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This trigonometry math tutorial from NutshellMath offers homework help on graphing given radian angles in standard position. Radian measurement of angles is an alternative to degree measurement, where radians are a unit of angle measure similar to degrees.  While one degree is equal to the measure of a central angle created by an arc measuring 1/360th of the circumference of a circle, one radian is equal to the measure of a central angle created by an arc whose arc length is equal to the radius of the circle.  Since the circumference of a circle is equal to the product of twice the radius and pi, a full circle contains 2*pi radians.


This tutorial discusses how to graph a given radian angle measurement in standard position.  Standard position of an angle on the coordinate plane places the vertex at the origin, and sets the base of the angle at the positive x-axis.  In standard position, positive angles are measures in a counter-clockwise direction about the origin.

The first step in graphing radian angle measures in standard position is to recognize important fractions around the circle.  Knowing that a full rotation about the origin measures 2*pi radians, it is easy to mark off a half-rotation, quarter-rotation and three-quarter rotation as fractions of 2*pi.  Knowing these measurements, it is possible to determine in which quadrant a radian measurement will fall, remembering that radian angle measurements greater than 2*pi represent more than one full revolution about the origin, and that negative radian measurements represent clockwise rotations about the origin.

The examples in this tutorial offer a strong introduction to graphing using radian measures in standard position.  Building a familiarity with radian measurement of angles is very important in trigonometry, as the links between the trigonometric functions, their periodicity and the unit circle becomes far clearer when operating in radian measurement.