cosecant
Americannoun
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(in a right triangle) the ratio of the hypotenuse to the side opposite a given angle.
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the secant of the complement, or the reciprocal of the sine, of a given angle or arc. csc
noun
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The ratio of the length of the hypotenuse in a right triangle to the length of the side opposite an acute angle. The cosecant is the inverse of the sine.
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The reciprocal of the ordinate of the endpoint of an arc of a unit circle centered at the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system, the arc being of length x and measured counterclockwise from the point (1, 0) if x is positive or clockwise if x is negative.
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A function of a number x, equal to the cosecant of an angle whose measure in radians is equal to x.
Etymology
Origin of cosecant
First recorded in 1700–10, cosecant is from the New Latin word cosecant- (stem of cosecāns ). See co-, secant
Vocabulary lists containing cosecant
Trigonometry
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Precalculus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The sine, cosine, secant, and cosecant functions have period 2π.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
The sine, cosine, secant, and cosecant functions have a period of 2π.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
Where the graph of the sine function increases, the graph of the cosecant function decreases.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015
In quadrant II, “Smart,” only sine and its reciprocal function, cosecant, are positive.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015
Notice how the graph of the transformed cosecant relates to the graph of shown as the orange dashed wave.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015
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