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Many festivals and amusement parks have a Ferris wheel, where riders can enjoy a casual ride and see great distances. The height of a rider on a Ferris wheel, with respect to time, can be represented by a sine curve. Using a graph of the curve, you can determine when the maximum or minimum height occurs or even figure out at what times the rider achieves a specific height. Calculating a complex trigonometric function by hand can be very challenging, but using a graphing utility will help you determine these values quickly.

Question

What other situations might be represented by a sine or cosine curve?
(Hint: Think about a swinging or repetitive motion.)

Answer

Some possibilities include a pendulum swing, average weekly temperatures during the year, the amount of sunshine per month, and ocean tides.