Unit Circle
Constructing coordinate pairs on the unit circle
You may have heard of "special triangles" like the 45-45-90 triangle and the 30-60-90 triangle, but what makes them special? As it turns out, there are many right triangles that are special, in the sense that we can construct them and then use them to derive coordinates for various points on the unit circle. In fact, regular polygon you construct allows you to do this.
What regular polygons can you construct, and can you use them to derive values for coordinates on the unit circle?
Plotting Functions for x- and y-coordinates on the unit circle
Use the table below to plot the x- and y-coordinates for various angles on the unit circle. What functions emerge?