Trigonometrical ratios for angles higher than 360

Question

Is there any use of Sin(720)or Cos(1440) (angles in degrees)? Whether in computer programming or in any other situation? In general, is there any use of Sin/Cosine/Tan of any angle greater than 360?

In Physics we do use dot products and cross products a lot, but even they require angles less than 180 degrees always.

Hi All, I know how to compute them.... I want to know, if they are ever useful???? When will I ever encounter a situation, when I need to compute Sin(440) for example???

Answer 1

Both in math and programming:

Sin(x) = Sin(x % 360)

As another answer pointed out, angles greater than 360 represent one or more full rotations over a circle plus the modulo part. This could have a physical meaning in some circumstances.

Also, when doing trigonometric calculations, you should take this fact into consideration. For example:

sin(a)*cos(a) = (1/2)*sin(2a)

For a>180 you will get the sin of an angle greater than 360.

By the way, have a look here.