Hyperbolic functions

Hyperbolic functions
In mathematics, hyperbolic functions are analogues of the ordinary trigonometric functions, but defined using the hyperbola rather than the circle. Just as the points form a circle with a unit radius, the points form the right half of the unit hyperbola. Also, similarly to how the derivatives of and are and respectively, the derivatives of and are and respectively.
Hyperbolic functions occur in the calculations of angles and distances in hyperbolic geometry. They also occur in the solutions of many linear differential equations (such as the equation defining a catenary), cubic equations, and Laplace's equation in Cartesian coordinates. Laplace's equations are important in many areas of physics, including electromagnetic theory, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and special relativity.
The basic hyperbolic functions are:
hyperbolic sine "",
hyperbolic cosine "",
from which are derived:
hyperbolic tangent "",
hyperbolic cosecant "" or ""
hyperbolic secant "",
hyperbolic cotangent "",
corresponding to the derived trigonometric functions.
The inverse hyperbolic functions are:
area hyperbolic sine "" (also denoted "", "" or sometimes "")
area hyperbolic cosine "" (also denoted "", "" or sometimes "")
and so on.
The hyperbolic functions take a real argument called a hyperbolic angle. The size of a hyperbolic angle is twice the area of its hyperbolic sector. The hyperbolic functions may be defined in terms of the legs of a right triangle covering this sector.
In complex analysis, the hyperbolic functions arise when applying the ordinary sine and cosine functions to an imaginary angle. The hyperbolic sine and the hyperbolic cosine are entire functions. As a result, the other hyperbolic functions are meromorphic in the whole complex plane.
By Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem, the hyperbolic functions have a transcendental value for every non-zero algebraic value of the argument.
Hyperbolic functions were introduced in the 1760s independently by Vincenzo Riccati and Johann Heinrich Lambert. Riccati used and to refer to circular functions and and to refer to hyperbolic functions. Lambert adopted the names, but altered the abbreviations to those used today. The abbreviations , are also currently used, depending on personal preference.
Notation
Definitions
There are various equivalent ways to define the hyperbolic functions.
Exponential definitions
In terms of the exponential function:
Hyperbolic sine: the odd part of the exponential function, that is,
Hyperbolic cosine: the even part of the exponential function, that is,
Hyperbolic tangent:
Hyperbolic cotangent: for ,
Hyperbolic secant:
Hyperbolic cosecant: for ,
Differential equation definitions
The hyperbolic functions may be defined as solutions of differential equations: The hyperbolic sine and cosine are the solution of the system
with the initial conditions The initial conditions make the solution unique; without them any pair of functions would be a solution.
and are also the unique solution of the equation ,
such that , for the hyperbolic cosine, and , for the hyperbolic sine.
Complex trigonometric definitions
Hyperbolic functions may also be deduced from trigonometric functions with complex arguments:
Hyperbolic sine:
Hyperbolic cosine:
Hyperbolic tangent:
Hyperbolic cotangent:
Hyperbolic secant:
Hyperbolic cosecant:
where is the imaginary unit with .
The above definitions are related to the exponential definitions via Euler's formula (See below).
Characterizing properties
Hyperbolic cosine
It can be shown that the area under the curve of the hyperbolic cosine (over a finite interval) is always equal to the arc length corresponding to that interval:
Hyperbolic tangent
The hyperbolic tangent is the (unique) solution to the differential equation , with .
Useful relations
The hyperbolic functions satisfy many identities, all of them similar in form to the trigonometric identities. In fact, Osborn's rule states that one can convert any trigonometric identity for or and into a hyperbolic identity, by expanding it completely in terms of integral powers of sines and cosines, changing sine to sinh and cosine to cosh, and switching the sign of every term containing a product of two sinhs.
Odd and even functions:
Hence:
Thus, and are even functions; the others are odd functions.
Hyperbolic sine and cosine satisfy:
the last of which is similar to the Pythagorean trigonometric identity.
One also has
for the other functions.
Sums of arguments
particularly
Also:
Subtraction formulas
Also:
Half argument formulas
where is the sign function.
If , then
Square formulas
Inequalities
The following inequality is useful in statistics:
It can be proved by comparing term by term the Taylor series of the two functions.
Inverse functions as logarithms
Derivatives
Second derivatives
Each of the functions and is equal to its second derivative, that is:
All functions with this property are linear combinations of and , in particular the exponential functions and .
Standard integrals
The following integrals can be proved using hyperbolic substitution:
where C is the constant of integration.
Taylor series expressions
It is possible to express explicitly the Taylor series at zero (or the Laurent series, if the function is not defined at zero) of the above functions.
This series is convergent for every complex value of . Since the function is odd, only odd exponents for occur in its Taylor series.
This series is convergent for every complex value of . Since the function is even, only even exponents for occur in its Taylor series.
The sum of the sinh and cosh series is the infinite series expression of the exponential function.
The following series are followed by a description of a subset of their domain of convergence, where the series is convergent and its sum equals the function.
where:
is the nth Bernoulli number
is the nth Euler number
Infinite products and continued fractions
The following expansions are valid in the whole complex plane:
Comparison with circular functions
The hyperbolic functions represent an expansion of trigonometry beyond the circular functions. Both types depend on an argument, either circular angle or hyperbolic angle.
Since the area of a circular sector with radius and angle (in radians) is , it will be equal to when . In the diagram, such a circle is tangent to the hyperbola xy = 1 at (1,1). The yellow sector depicts an area and angle magnitude. Similarly, the yellow and red regions together depict a hyperbolic sector with area corresponding to hyperbolic angle magnitude.
The legs of the two right triangles with hypotenuse on the ray defining the angles are of length times the circular and hyperbolic functions.
The hyperbolic angle is an invariant measure with respect to the squeeze mapping, just as the circular angle is invariant under rotation.
The Gudermannian function gives a direct relationship between the circular functions and the hyperbolic functions that does not involve complex numbers.
The graph of the function is the catenary, the curve formed by a uniform flexible chain, hanging freely between two fixed points under uniform gravity.
Relationship to the exponential function
The decomposition of the exponential function in its even and odd parts gives the identities
and
Combined with Euler's formula
this gives
for the general complex exponential function.
Additionally,
Hyperbolic functions for complex numbers
Since the exponential function can be defined for any complex argument, we can also extend the definitions of the hyperbolic functions to complex arguments. The functions and are then holomorphic.
Relationships to ordinary trigonometric functions are given by Euler's formula for complex numbers:
so:
Thus, hyperbolic functions are periodic with respect to the imaginary component, with period (for hyperbolic tangent and cotangent).
See also
e (mathematical constant)
Equal incircles theorem, based on sinh
Hyperbolic growth
Inverse hyperbolic functions
List of integrals of hyperbolic functions
Poinsot's spirals
Sigmoid function
Soboleva modified hyperbolic tangent
Trigonometric functions
References
External links
Hyperbolic functions on PlanetMath
GonioLab: Visualization of the unit circle, trigonometric and hyperbolic functions (Java Web Start)
Web-based calculator of hyperbolic functions
Exponentials
Hyperbolic geometry
Analytic functions