sin

Sine of argument in radians

Syntax

Y = sin(X)

Description

Y = sin(X) returns the sine of the elements of X. The sin function operates element-wise on arrays. The function accepts both real and complex inputs.

• For real values of X, sin(X) returns real values in the interval [-1, 1].

• For complex values of X, sin(X) returns complex values.

Examples

Plot Sine Function

Plot the sine function over the domain $$-\pi \le x\le \pi$$.

x = -pi:0.01:pi;
plot(x,sin(x)), grid on

Sine of Vector of Complex Angles

Calculate the sine of the complex angles in vector x.

x = [-i pi+i*pi/2 -1+i*4];
y = sin(x)

y = 1×3 complex

   0.0000 - 1.1752i   0.0000 - 2.3013i -22.9791 +14.7448i

Input Arguments

X — Input angle in radians

scalar | vector | matrix | multidimensional array | table | timetable

Input angle in radians, specified as a scalar, vector, matrix, multidimensional array, table, or timetable.

Data Types: single | double | table | timetable
Complex Number Support: Yes

Output Arguments

Y — Sine of input angle

scalar | vector | matrix | multidimensional array | table | timetable

Sine of input angle, returned as a real-valued or complex-valued scalar, vector, matrix, multidimensional array, table, or timetable.

More About

Sine Function

The sine of an angle, α, defined with reference to a right triangle is

$$\sin \left(\alpha \right)=\frac{\text{opposite side}}{\text{hypotenuse}}=\frac{a}{h}.$$

The sine of a complex argument, α, is

$$\sin \left(\alpha \right)=\frac{e^{i\alpha }-e^{-i\alpha }}{2i}.$$

Tips

• To compute sin(X*pi) accurately, without using pi as a floating-point approximation of π, you can use the sinpi function instead. For example, sinpi(n) is exactly zero for integers n and sinpi(m/2) is +1 or –1 for odd integers m.

Extended Capabilities

Tall Arrays

Calculate with arrays that have more rows than fit in memory.

The sin function fully supports tall arrays. For more information, see Tall Arrays.

C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

GPU Code Generation
Generate CUDA® code for NVIDIA® GPUs using GPU Coder™.

Thread-Based Environment

Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

This function fully supports thread-based environments. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions in Thread-Based Environment.

GPU Arrays

Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

The sin function fully supports GPU arrays. To run the function on a GPU, specify the input data as a gpuArray (Parallel Computing Toolbox). For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Distributed Arrays

Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

This function fully supports distributed arrays. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

R2023a: Perform calculations directly on tables and timetables

The sin function can calculate on all variables within a table or timetable without indexing to access those variables. All variables must have data types that support the calculation. For more information, see Direct Calculations on Tables and Timetables.