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Trying to plot the sin(x) function, I get this result:
The MWE is here:
\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{ pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\addplot[samples=500]{sin(x)};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
cos(x) looks like an inverted parabola and tan looks just like sin.
I'm using pdflatex and MiKTeX. Any ideas?
As x is in radian, you have to use sin(deg(x)) to indicate \deg(x) in degrees in which the domain of trigonometric functions in TikZ is defined.
\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\addplot[samples=500,domain=0:2*pi]{sin(deg(x))};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
r for x to be in radians.
A recommended solution with PSTricks just for fun!
The following figure describes the settings used in the code. You just need to change some settings to meet your requirement. As the code is self-explanatory, I think I don't need to speak too much here. Let my code speaks.
\documentclass[pstricks,border=0pt,12pt,dvipsnames]{standalone}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{pst-plot}
\usepackage{pst-math}
\usepackage[nomessages]{fp}
\FPeval\XMin{0-2*pi}
\FPeval\XMax{2*pi}
\FPeval\YMin{0-pi}
\FPeval\YMax{5*pi/3}
\FPeval\XOL{0-1/3} % of DeltaX
\FPeval\XOR{1/3} % of DeltaX
\FPeval\YOB{0-1/3} % of DeltaY
\FPeval\YOT{1/3} % of DeltaY
\FPset\TrigLabelBase{3}
\FPeval\DeltaX{pi/TrigLabelBase}
\FPeval\DeltaY{pi/TrigLabelBase}
\FPeval\AxisL{XMin+DeltaX*XOL}
\FPeval\AxisR{XMax+DeltaX*XOR}
\FPeval\AxisB{YMin+DeltaY*YOB}
\FPeval\AxisT{YMax+DeltaY*YOT}
\newlength\Width\Width=12cm
\newlength\Height\Height=8cm
\newlength\llx\llx=-5pt
\newlength\urx\urx=15pt
\newlength\lly\lly=-5pt
\newlength\ury\ury=15pt
\psset
{
llx=\llx,
lly=\lly,
urx=\urx,
ury=\ury,
xtrigLabels=true,
ytrigLabels=true,
trigLabelBase=\TrigLabelBase,
labelFontSize=\scriptstyle,
xAxisLabel=$x$,
yAxisLabel=$y$,
algebraic,
plotpoints=500,
}
\def\f{Pi*sin(x)}
\def\fp{Derive(1,\f)}
\def\g{2*ASIN(x/(2*Pi))}
\begin{document}
\pslegend[lt]{%
\color{NavyBlue}\rule{12pt}{1pt} & \color{NavyBlue} $y=\pi\sin x$\\
\color{Red}\rule{12pt}{1pt} & \color{Red} $y=\pi\cos x$\\
\color{ForestGreen}\rule{12pt}{1pt} & \color{ForestGreen} $y=2\sin^{-1}\left(\tfrac{x}{2\pi}\right)$
}
\begin{psgraph}
[
dx=\DeltaX,
dy=\DeltaY,
linecolor=gray,
tickcolor=gray,
ticksize=-3pt 3pt,
axespos=top,
]{<->}(0,0)(\AxisL,\AxisB)(\AxisR,\AxisT){\dimexpr\Width-\urx+\llx}{!}%{\dimexpr\Height-\ury+\lly}
\psaxes
[
dx=\DeltaX,
dy=\DeltaY,
labels=none,
subticks=5,
tickwidth=.4pt,
subtickwidth=.2pt,
tickcolor=Red!30,
subtickcolor=ForestGreen!30,
xticksize=\YMin\space \YMax,
yticksize=\XMin\space \XMax,
subticksize=1,
](0,0)(\XMin,\YMin)(\XMax,\YMax)
\psplot[linecolor=NavyBlue]{\XMin}{\XMax}{\f}
\psplot[linecolor=Red]{\XMin}{\XMax}{\fp}
\psplot[linecolor=ForestGreen]{\XMin}{\XMax}{\g}
\end{psgraph}
\end{document}
The truly important issue here is that pgfplots assign by default 25 values to x in a range of -5 to 5 (independent of degrees or radians), this allows us to obtain by default 25 samples after evaluate the mathematical expression. Change the number of samples only allow us to have more values to graph but only in that interval (-5 to 5). It is necessary to set the domain of the function to be evaluated, considering that the trigonometric functions in pgfplots only works with degrees.
\documentclass[border=10pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\addplot+[domain=0:360]{sin(x)};%Just setting the domain, 25 samples into the domain
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\addplot[samples=500,domain=0:360]{sin(x)};%x in degrees, 500 samples into the domain
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\addplot[samples=500,domain=0:2*pi]{sin(deg(x))};%x in radians, 500 samples into the domain, it's necessary the transformation radians->degrees
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Varying the samples number allows you to have more smoothness and a more accurate approximation to the real curve.
From the TikZ manual (pp. 533), x can be in radians by employing the r operator, but this not work with pgfplots in a mathematical expression. The pgfplots manual (pp. 52) recommend to use deg(x) if you want to use radians.
