The term ‘cotangent’ refers to a trigonometric function that is the reciprocal of the tangent function. In a right triangle, the cotangent of an angle is defined as the ratio of the length of the adjacent side to the length of the opposite side. In mathematical terms, if ( theta ) is an angle, the cotangent is expressed as:
[
cot(theta) = frac{cos(theta)}{sin(theta)} = frac{text{adjacent}}{text{opposite}}
]
The cotangent function is commonly used in mathematics, physics, and engineering, especially in contexts involving angles and triangles. It is also defined for all real numbers, except for those angles where the sine function is zero, at which the cotangent function is undefined.
