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References: Trig derivatives from geometry

Source curriculum (structural mirror, cited as further study):
• 3Blue1Brown, Essence of Calculus, Chapter 4: "Trig Derivatives through geometry"
Creator: Grant Sanderson
Lesson page: https://www.3blue1brown.com/lessons/derivatives-trig-functions
Series index: https://www.3blue1brown.com/?topic=calculus
License: copyright Grant Sanderson; videos published on his site and YouTube
Clawdemy's lessons are original prose that follows the pedagogical arc of this
series. We do not reproduce or transcribe the videos; we cite them as the
recommended companion. All rights to the original videos remain with the creator.
  • Trig Derivatives through geometry (3Blue1Brown) by Grant Sanderson. The video this lesson mirrors. Watching the point travel around the unit circle while its velocity arrow stays perpendicular to the radius makes the derivatives (-sin x, cos x) something you see rather than memorize, and the link between the circular motion and the wave-shaped graphs is much clearer animated. About ten minutes.

Where this sits in the track.

  • The power rule from geometry (previous lesson). The power rule covered powers of t; sine and cosine are not powers, so they needed their own picture. Same nudge-and-look method, different shape: a point on a circle instead of a growing square.

  • Taylor series (final lesson). The small-angle approximation sin(x) ≈ x glimpsed here is the first term of the sine’s Taylor series. The capstone lesson generalizes that move, approximating any function near a point by reading off its derivatives, with sine as a recurring example.