List of periodic functions

This is a list of some well-known periodic functions. The constant function f (x) = c, where c is independent of x, is periodic with any period, but lacks a fundamental period. A definition is given for some of the following functions, though each function may have many equivalent definitions.

Trigonometric functions

All trigonometric functions listed have period $2\pi$, unless otherwise stated. For the following trigonometric functions:

U_n is the nth up/down number,

B_n is the nth Bernoulli number

Name	Symbol	Formula	Fourier Series
Sine	$\sin(x)$	$\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{n}x^{2n+1}}{(2n+1)!}}$	$\sin(x)$
cas (mathematics)	$\operatorname {cas} (x)$	$\sin(x)+\cos(x)$	$\sin(x)+\cos(x)$
Cosine	$\cos(x)$	$\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{n}x^{2n}}{(2n)!}}$	$\cos(x)$
cis (mathematics)	$e^{ix},\operatorname {cis} (x)$	cos(x) + i sin(x)	$\cos(x)+i\sin(x)$
Tangent	$\tan(x)$	$\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {U_{2n+1}x^{2n+1}}{(2n+1)!}}$	$2\sum _{n=1}^{\infty }(-1)^{n-1}\sin(2nx)$
Cotangent	$\cot(x)$	$\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{n}2^{2n}B_{2n}x^{2n-1}}{(2n)!}}$	$i+2i\sum _{n=1}^{\infty }(\cos 2nx-i\sin 2nx)$
Secant	$\sec(x)$	$\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {U_{2n}x^{2n}}{(2n)!}}$	-
Cosecant	$\csc(x)$	$\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{n+1}2\left(2^{2n-1}-1\right)B_{2n}x^{2n-1}}{(2n)!}}$	-
Exsecant	$\operatorname {exsec} (x)$	$\sec(x)-1$	-
Excosecant	$\operatorname {excsc} (x)$	$\csc(x)-1$	-
Versine	$\operatorname {versin} (x)$	$1-\cos(x)$	$1-\cos(x)$
Vercosine	$\operatorname {vercosin} (x)$	$1+\cos(x)$	$1+\cos(x)$
Coversine	$\operatorname {coversin} (x)$	$1-\sin(x)$	$1-\sin(x)$
Covercosine	$\operatorname {covercosin} (x)$	$1+\sin(x)$	$1+\sin(x)$
Haversine	$\operatorname {haversin} (x)$	${\frac {1-\cos(x)}{2}}$	${\frac {1}{2}}-{\frac {1}{2}}\cos(x)$
Havercosine	$\operatorname {havercosin} (x)$	${\frac {1+\cos(x)}{2}}$	${\frac {1}{2}}+{\frac {1}{2}}\cos(x)$
Hacoversine	$\operatorname {hacoversin} (x)$	${\frac {1-\sin(x)}{2}}$	${\frac {1}{2}}-{\frac {1}{2}}\sin(x)$
Hacovercosine	$\operatorname {hacovercosin} (x)$	${\frac {1+\sin(x)}{2}}$	${\frac {1}{2}}+{\frac {1}{2}}\sin(x)$
Magnitude of sine wave with amplitude, A, and period, T	-	$A|\sin \left({\frac {2\pi }{T}}x\right)|$	${\frac {4A}{2\pi }}+\sum _{n\,\mathrm {even} }{\frac {-4A}{\pi }}{\frac {1}{1-n^{2}}}\cos({\frac {2\pi n}{T}}x)$

Sinus-like functions

• Trochoid
• Cycloid
• Clausen function

Non-smooth functions

The following functions take the variable $x$, period $p$ and have range $-1$ to $1$. The symbol $\lfloor n\rfloor$ is the floor function of n and $\operatorname {sgn}$ is the sign function.

Name	Formula	Fourier Series	Notes
Triangle wave	${\frac {4}{p}}\left(x-{\frac {p}{2}}\left\lfloor {\frac {2x}{p}}+{\frac {1}{2}}\right\rfloor \right)(-1)^{\left\lfloor {\frac {2x}{p}}+{\frac {1}{2}}\right\rfloor }$	-	non-continuous first derivative
Sawtooth wave	$2\left({\frac {x}{p}}-\left\lfloor {\frac {1}{2}}+{\frac {x}{p}}\right\rfloor \right)$	${\frac {4}{\pi }}\sum _{n\,\mathrm {odd} }^{\infty }{\frac {1}{n}}\sin \left({\frac {n\pi x}{p/2}}\right)$	non-continuous
Square wave	$\operatorname {sgn} \left(\sin {\frac {2\pi x}{p}}\right)$	-	non-continuous
Cycloid	No closed form .	-	non-continuous first derivative
Pulse wave	-	-	non-continuous

The following functions are also not smooth:

• Tangent (non-continuous)
• Cotangent
• Secant
• Cosecant
• Exsecant
• Excosecant

Vector-valued functions

• Epitrochoid
• Epicycloid (special case of the epitrochoid)
• Limaçon (special case of the epitrochoid)
• Hypotrochoid
• Hypocycloid (special case of the hypotrochoid)
• Spirograph (special case of the hypotrochoid)

Doubly periodic functions

• Jacobi's elliptic functions
• Weierstrass's elliptic function