Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun In a right triangle, the ratio of the length of the side adjacent to an acute angle to the length of the hypotenuse.
  • noun 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.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In trigonom., the sine of the complement of a given angle (whose cosine it is).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Trig.) The sine of the complement of an arc or angle. See Illust. of functions.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun 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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun ratio of the adjacent side to the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Measuring Relational Similarity with VSM  The measure of similrity of R1 and R2 is given by the cosine of the angle Ɵ between r1 and r2: cosine  = ∑ r1, i. r2, i = r1. r2 = r1. r2

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • So, if the current is sinusoidal, you know the derivative of a sine to be a cosine, which is 90° out of phase.

    unknown title 2008

  • Did you know that it's possible to calculate a cosine even if you think "cosine" is a brand of nasal decongestant?

    I Blame the Handheld Calculator 2007

  • Did you know that it's possible to calculate a cosine even if you think "cosine" is a brand of nasal decongestant?

    I Blame the Handheld Calculator 2007

  • And so the sine and cosine are both negative multiples of their own second derivatives (in fact, the factor is – 1).

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Pi Day 2010

  • And so the sine and cosine are both negative multiples of their own second derivatives (in fact, the factor is – 1).

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Pi Day 2010

  • Starting from algebraic operations and simple analytical functions such as sine and cosine, the algorithm randomly re-combines previous equations and parameters, and tests each set of expressions for accuracy against the empirical data, until it reaches a desired level of accuracy.

    Archive 2009-04-01 Gordon McCabe 2009

  • Laboring in the House of Wisdom, al-Khwarizmi, a Persian by birth, combined the geometry of triangles and spheres with the verbal elaboration of equations to work out the first sine and cosine tables.

    Clay Farris Naff: A Moment Of Opportunity For Muslims Clay Farris Naff 2011

  • He reminded me of sine and cosine and complementary angles, all of which were things I believed in and knew to be true.

    Chocolate & Vicodin Jennette Fulda 2011

  • He reminded me of sine and cosine and complementary angles, all of which were things I believed in and knew to be true.

    Chocolate & Vicodin Jennette Fulda 2011

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