In this post, I share a video where I walk you through my method for teaching students how to graph tangent and cotangent functions.
Whether you're a teacher introducing these graphs for the first time or one who's been struggling to find a reliable approach, this video breaks the process down into simple, clear steps.
My method is designed to help students grasp key concepts like asymptotes, periods, and shifts with ease, making it accessible for all levels of learners. What’s even better is that this technique isn’t just limited to tangent and cotangent—it can be applied to graphing any type of function.
The process can be used for any function—not just trig functions. Students must be familiar with the parent graphs and the 5 key points, which are organized in a T-table.
After analyzing the function's transformations, the values in the t-table are also transformed. Finally, students set up their axes, labeled the scale, plotted the points from the t-table, and graphed the transformed function!
Other posts you may be interested in:
How to Teach Graphing Sine and Cosine
How to Teach Graphing Secant and Cosecant
How to Teach Graphing Transformations of Functions
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