Fun and Interactive Unit Circle Learning for Beginners (2025)
The Unit Circle is a special type of circle with a radius of exactly 1 unit.
Because it is so simple, the Unit Circle is one of the best ways to learn about angles, lengths, and trigonometric functions like Sine, Cosine, and Tangent.
The center of the Unit Circle is placed exactly at the point where the x-axis and y-axis cross — the origin point (0, 0). This perfect placement creates a neat and symmetrical graph, making it easier to understand how angles and coordinates work together.
Why Is the Unit Circle Important?
- It helps you understand Sine, Cosine, and Tangent functions visually.
Sine, Cosine and Tangent
Since the radius is 1, we can read sine, cosine and tangent just from the x and y coordinates.
unit circle center angle 0 What happens when the angle, θ, is 0°?
cos 0° = 1, sin 0° = 0 and tan 0° = 0
What happens when θ is 90°?
cos 90° = 0, sin 90° = 1 and tan 90° is undefined
Try It Yourself!
Play with the interactive Unit Circle below. See how different angles (in radians or degrees) affect sine, cosine and tangent:
cos(54°) = 0.588
sin(54°) = 0.809
tan(54°) = 1.376