The word tangent comes from Latin tangens meaning "touching", since the line touches the circle of unit radius, whereas secant stems from Latin secans —"cutting"—since the line cuts the circle.

The meaning of TANGENT is an abrupt change of course : digression. How to use tangent in a sentence.

Sine, Cosine and Tangent are the main functions used in Trigonometry and are based on a Right-Angled Triangle. Before getting stuck into the functions, it helps to give a name to each side of a right …

Nov 20, 2025 · The tangent is one of the six fundamental trigonometric functions in mathematics. In a right triangle, it is the ratio of the length of the side opposite a given angle to the length of the side …

The graph of tangent is periodic, meaning that it repeats itself indefinitely. Unlike sine and cosine however, tangent has asymptotes separating each of its periods.

Idiom go off on a tangent (Definition of tangent from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Jul 23, 2025 · Tangent of an angle in a right-angled triangle is the ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of the adjacent side to the given angle. We write a tangent function as "tan".

A tangent touches a curve at exactly one point, while a secant crosses through a curve at two points. Think of a tangent as a gentle touch and a secant as a straight cut through the curve.

Dec 3, 2025 · The tangent function is defined by tanx= (sinx)/ (cosx), (1) where sinx is the sine function and cosx is the cosine function. The notation tgx is sometimes also used (Gradshteyn and Ryzhik …

A tangent in maths is a straight line that touches a curve or circle at exactly one point, called the point of contact or tangency, without crossing the curve at that location.