TITLE: What exactly do the sin, cos, tan buttons do on a calculator?
QUESTION [12 upvotes]: I understand they mean sine, cosine, tangent, but what exactly is the calculator doing when I enter an angle and press those buttons?
Edit: To help others better understand my question, my question is specifically how the calculator calculates the values.

REPLY [2 votes]: Here's a link to a very good article explaining the CORDIC algorithm:
http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/Degrees/DMNS/Faculty%20Documents/Sultan1.pdf
(originally published in the College Mathematics Journal)