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1.6: Hyperbolic Functions

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    34515
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    The hyperbolic functions are important functions defined in terms of exponentials: \[\begin{align} \sinh(x) &= \frac{1}{2}\left(e^{x} - e^{-x}\right) \\ \cosh(x) &= \frac{1}{2}\left(e^{x} + e^{-x}\right) \\ \tanh(x) &= \frac{e^{x} - e^{-x}}{e^{x} + e^{-x}}\end{align}\] They have properties that are intriguingly similar to the trignometric functions, such as: \[\begin{align} \sinh(x+y) &= \sinh(x)\cosh(y) + \cosh(x)\sinh(y) \\ \cosh(x+y) &= \cosh(x)\cosh(y) + \sinh(x)\sinh(y)\end{align}\] Because of these identities, it is sometimes more convenient to work with hyperbolic functions rather than exponentials. During this course, we will learn about the intricate relationship between the hyperbolic and trigonometric functions.


    This page titled 1.6: Hyperbolic Functions was last modified on Fri, 30 Apr 2021 15:14:37 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Y. D. Chong via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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