Question

How do computers evaluate functions such as the sine and cosine function, or the inverse sine/inverse cosine function?

Answer 1

using taylor series

Answer 2

\[\sin(x) = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}(-1)^{n}\frac{x^{n+1}}{(n+1)!}\]

Answer 3

yes, like that

Answer 4

so in a programming language, that would be an iterative loop. When does it stop?

Answer 5

the processor stops when the solution of the previous step is the binary equivalent of the last step, or in other words you have reached the 32bit/64bit/128bit answer for your math library. You can install 128bit math libraries...