Transcendental Functions

A transcendental function is a function that is not algebraic. Such a function cannot be

expressed as a solution of a polynomial equation whose coefficients are themselves polynomials with
rational coefficients. Examples of transcendental functions include the exponential function, the
logarithm, and the trigonometric functions.

Trigonometric Functions: Top panel: Trigonometric function sinθfor selected angles θ , π −θ , π+ θ ,

and 2 π −θ  in the four quadrants. Bottom panel: Graph of sine function versus angle.

Formally, an analytic function ƒ(z ) of the real or complex variables  z 1 , ⋯ , z n is

transcendental if  z 1 , ⋯ , z n, ƒ(z ) are algebraically independent, i.e., if  f  is transcendental over
the field C ( z 1 , ⋯ , z n) .
A transcendental function is a function that “transcends” algebra in the sense that it
cannot be expressed in terms of a finite sequence of the algebraic operations of addition,
multiplication, power, and root extraction.
The following functions are transcendental:
f 1 ( x)=x π
x
f 2 ( x )=c , x ≠ 0,1
x
f 3 ( x)=x
1
f 4 ( x )=x x
f 5 ( x)=log c ( x)
f 6 ( x)=sin x

Note that, for f 2 in particular, if we set c  equal to e , the base of the natural logarithm, then we find
that e x  is a transcendental function. Similarly, if we set c  equal to e  in f 5, then we find that ln (x), the
natural logarithm, is a transcendental function.
In dimensional analysis, transcendental functions are notable because they make sense only when their
argument is dimensionless (possibly after algebraic reduction). Because of this, transcendental functions
can be an easy-to-spot source of dimensional errors. For example, log ( 5 meters) is a nonsensical

expression, unlike log ( 53 meters

meters )
 or log ( 3)  meters. One could attempt to apply a logarithmic identity
to get log (10)+ log (m) , which highlights the problem: applying a non-algebraic operation to a
dimension creates meaningless results.