Graph of y = arcsin x

Date: 03/31/2003 at 00:50:22
From: Alley
Subject: Trigonometry

Graph y = arcsin x.

Date: 03/31/2003 at 08:35:15
From: Doctor Rick
Subject: Re: Trigonometry

Hi, Alley.

Can you graph y = sin(x)? How about x = sin(y)? If so, you're nearly 
done, since arcsin(x) is the value of y such that x = sin(y).

The only remaining issue is that, in order for arcsin(x) to be a 
function, it can only have one value for each value of x; and the 
graph of x = sin(y) has many values of y for each x between -1 and 1. 
We must improve the definition of arcsin(x) that I just gave: it is 
the value of y BETWEEN -pi/2 AND pi/2 such that x = sin(y). With this 
information, you can select a portion of the graph of x = sin(y) to 
be your graph of y = arcsin(x).

- Doctor Rick, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/