Cosine dictionary definition | cosine defined

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cosine

co·sine

Use cosine in a sentence

the reciprocal of the secant; specif.

the ratio of the adjacent side of a given acute angle in a right triangle to the hypotenuse
an equivalent, positive or negative ratio for certain related angles (Ex.: the cosine of 57° or 303° is .5446, of 123° or 237° is ?.5446) or real numbers representing radians (Ex.: cosine of .9948 radians (57°) is .5446)

Origin of cosine

Modern Latin from co. sinus, short for complementi sinus, literally , sine of the complement

cosine

noun

Abbr. cos

In a right triangle, the ratio of the length of the side adjacent to an acute angle to the length of the hypotenuse.
The abscissa at 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.

cosine

cosine

cos &thgr; = ^b_c

cosine

Noun

(plural cosines)

(trigonometry) In a right triangle, the ratio of the length of the side adjacent to an acute angle to the length of the hypotenuse. Symbol: cos

Usage notes

In various branches of mathematics, the cosine of an angle is determined in various ways, including the following:

The x-coordinate of the point on the unit circle at the given anticlockwise angle from the x-axis.
The sum of the real or complex power series where x is in radians.

Anagrams

cosine - Computer Definition

See sine.

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SentencesSentence examples

Sentence Examples

Since dr/ds is the cosine of the angle between the directions of r and ~s.
Further, if polarized light fall at the polarizing angle on a reflecting surface, the intensity of the reflected stream depends upon the azimuth of the plane of incidence, being proportional to the square of the cosine of the angle between this plane and the plane of the polarization.
On examining the diagram it will be observed that the maximum compressive stresses are parallel to and near to the down stream face of the section, which values are approximately equal to the maximum value of the vertical stress determined by the law of uniformly varying stress divided by the cosine squared of the angle between the vertical and the resultant.
C2P2=IC2cos obliquity (The obliquity which is found to answer best in practice is about 143/4; its cosine is about i3/4, and its sine about 3/4.
Consequently, one of the forms suitable for the teeth of wheels is the involute of a circle; and the obliquity of the action of such teeth is the angle whose cosine is the ratio of the radius of their base-circle to that of the pitch-circle of the wheel.

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