Degree Ceremony

What does Pythagoras' Theorem tell you about these angles: 90°, (45+x)° and (45-x)° in a triangle?

Loch Ness

Draw graphs of the sine and modulus functions and explain the humps.

Squareness

The family of graphs of x^n + y^n =1 (for even n) includes the circle. Why do the graphs look more and more square as n increases?

Trig-trig

Stage: 4 and 5 Challenge Level:
This is an investigation concerning the composition of trig functions -- it is very open-ended. You might wish to make good use of spreadsheets or other tools to get started.

Two functions $f(x)$ and $g(x)$ can be composed to create a new function $h(x) = f(g(x))$.

Explore the properties of functions which can be created by composing two trig functions: $\sin(x)$, $\cos(x)$ and $\tan(x)$ on the range $-\pi < x \leq \pi$.

Which combinations are finite, which combinations have finite numbers of turning points and which combinations have no turning points on the specified range? What are their maximum and minimum values?

Extension: Explore the properties of nested sequences of $\sin$ and $\cos$: $\sin(\sin(\sin(x)))$ and $\cos(\cos(\cos(x)))$ or see what happens when you compose other functions.