Cosecant (Noun)
Meaning
Ratio of the hypotenuse to the opposite side of a right-angled triangle.
Classification
Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas.
Examples
- The cosecant of an angle in a right-angled triangle is defined as the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to the length of the side opposite the angle.
- The cosecant of a 30-degree angle is 2, since the hypotenuse is twice the length of the opposite side in a 30-60-90 triangle.
- In trigonometry, the cosecant is one of the six basic trigonometric ratios, along with sine, cosine, tangent, secant, and cotangent.
- To find the cosecant of an angle, you can use a calculator or construct a right-angled triangle with the given angle and calculate the ratio of the hypotenuse to the opposite side.
- The cosecant function is the reciprocal of the sine function, so cosecant and sine are related but distinct trigonometric ratios.