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Trigonometric Angle-Based Features

Updated 18 December 2025
  • Trigonometric angle-based features are mathematically structured descriptors that utilize classical and generalized trigonometric functions to encode rotation-invariant geometric relationships.
  • They derive from fundamental identities and employ multiple-angle and addition formulas to enable continuous tuning of feature shapes in various computational applications.
  • Empirical studies, particularly in graph neural networks for 3D object detection, demonstrate that these features significantly enhance performance and robustness.

Trigonometric angle-based features are mathematically structured descriptors that utilize angular relationships—derived from classical or generalized trigonometric functions—within geometric or learned representations. Rooted in the properties of both classical and two-parameter generalized trigonometric functions—including new multiple-angle and addition formulas—these features provide a continuous, tunable family of periodic mappings for use in a variety of computational pipelines. Recent advancements demonstrate their impact, particularly regarding encoding rotation-invariant geometric relationships in high-dimensional data, as in graph neural networks (GNNs) for 3D object detection and feature engineering.

1. Generalized Trigonometric Functions and Fundamental Identities

Let p,q(1,)p, q \in (1,\infty) be fixed exponents. The generalized arcsine is defined as

arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]

with half-period

Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).

Define p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1). The periodic continuation yields

sinp,q:R[1,1],cosp,q(x):=ddxsinp,q(x).\sin_{p,q}: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow [-1,1], \quad \cos_{p,q}(x) := \frac{d}{dx} \sin_{p,q}(x).

A key relation is the generalized Pythagorean identity: cosp,q(x)p+sinp,q(x)q=1.|\cos_{p, q}(x)|^p + |\sin_{p, q}(x)|^q = 1. Derivatives satisfy

(sinp,qx)=cosp,qx,(cosp,qx)=cosp,qx2psinp,qxq1.(\sin_{p, q} x)' = \cos_{p, q} x,\quad (\cos_{p, q} x)' = -|\cos_{p, q} x|^{2-p} |\sin_{p, q} x|^{q-1}.

These generalized functions recover classical trigonometric identities when p=q=2p=q=2 and enable continuous transitions between various function shapes, facilitating feature shape tuning. The domain of both sinp,q\sin_{p,q} and cosp,q\cos_{p,q} is arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]0, with fundamental period arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]1 (Takeuchi, 2016).

2. Multiple-Angle and Duplication Formulas

Multiple-angle formulas for generalized trigonometric functions extend classical results. For all arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]2 and arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]3,

arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]4

arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]5

The half-periods relate as arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]6. For each integer arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]7 and by periodic continuation, closed-form expressions for arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]8 and similar for cosine are available in terms of base functions (Takeuchi, 2016).

A slowly-convergent series expansion analogous to the Gregory-Leibniz series for arcsinp,q(y)=0ydt(1tq)1/p,y[0,1]\arcsin_{p, q}(y) = \int_0^y \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}},\quad y\in[0,1]9 exists for Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).0: Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).1 where Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).2.

3. Addition-Type Identities

While a full generalization of Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).3 is not available for all parameters, important addition-type results include:

  • The Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).4-Pythagorean identity: Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).5.
  • Derivative identities enabling implicit integral-based addition relations.
  • For Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).6 (Edmunds–Gurka–Lang), an explicit four-term addition theorem: Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).7 (Takeuchi, 2016).

4. Algorithmic Construction of Angle-Based Features

A broad class of angle-based features in signal processing and machine learning applications are constructed from periodic base functions. Given explicit duplication and multiple-angle formulas, one can:

  • Select Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).8 as base features.
  • For higher harmonics, form features like Tp,q=201dt(1tq)1/p=2qB(1q,1p/(p1)).T_{p, q} = 2 \int_0^1 \frac{dt}{(1-t^q)^{1/p}} = \frac{2}{q} B\left(\frac{1}{q},\,\frac{1}{p/(p-1)}\right).9, without requiring numerical inversion or quadrature.
  • Treat p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)0 and p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)1 as tunable hyperparameters for optimizing feature shape, seamlessly interpolating between classical sinusoids p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)2 and other geometries (e.g., super-circles, astroids).

Application contexts include filter-bank design with band shapes adapted by p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)3 and geometric modeling via parameterizations p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)4 (Takeuchi, 2016).

5. Rotation-Invariant Trigonometric Angular Features in Deep Learning

Within 3D point cloud analysis and graph neural network (GNN) architectures, trigonometric angle-based features are constructed as follows. For points p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)5,

p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)6

Define angular features: p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)7 The triple p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)8 forms a mathematically rotation-invariant descriptor for each point-pair.

These are encoded in GNN edge features as either angle-only or concatenated with relative offsets:

  • Angle-only: p=p/(p1)p^* = p/(p-1)9
  • Angle+Relative: sinp,q:R[1,1],cosp,q(x):=ddxsinp,q(x).\sin_{p,q}: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow [-1,1], \quad \cos_{p,q}(x) := \frac{d}{dx} \sin_{p,q}(x).0.

Empirical analysis shows that angle-based encodings confer strong robustness to global rigid rotations, as angular quantities sinp,q:R[1,1],cosp,q(x):=ddxsinp,q(x).\sin_{p,q}: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow [-1,1], \quad \cos_{p,q}(x) := \frac{d}{dx} \sin_{p,q}(x).1 for any rotation sinp,q:R[1,1],cosp,q(x):=ddxsinp,q(x).\sin_{p,q}: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow [-1,1], \quad \cos_{p,q}(x) := \frac{d}{dx} \sin_{p,q}(x).2, while raw offsets do not (Ansari et al., 2021).

6. Comparative Impact and Quantitative Results

Empirical results from KITTI 3D object detection benchmarks demonstrate marked improvements in performance using trigonometric angle-based features within GNNs.

Feature Encoding Car mAP (E/M/H) Cyclist mAP (E/M/H) Pedestrian mAP (E/M/H)
Euclidean-only 30.23/25.58/22.02 15.15/11.06/7.47 8.93/15.47/8.93
Absolute-only 35.56/28.66/25.41 20.71/18.92/16.17 32.67/29.91/22.41
Relative-only 62.23/49.57/42.42 45.64/40.14/38.19 51.28/47.42/42.56
Angle-only 85.64/75.66/67.69 50.55/41.07/38.27 71.42/63.12/55.47
Angle+Relative 90.12/88.86/79.53 54.23/48.67/41.21 80.61/62.41/58.01

The Angle+Relative encoding achieves the highest mean average precision while incurring only marginal runtime overhead compared to the baseline (Ansari et al., 2021).

7. Applications and Theoretical Significance

Trigonometric angle-based features provide a mathematically principled, computationally tractable, and robust methodology for constructing invariant geometric descriptors. Their generalization to sinp,q:R[1,1],cosp,q(x):=ddxsinp,q(x).\sin_{p,q}: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow [-1,1], \quad \cos_{p,q}(x) := \frac{d}{dx} \sin_{p,q}(x).3-parametric families enables function shape optimization for diverse domains:

  • Machine learning: periodic feature engineering via learnable harmonic shapes.
  • Signal processing: design of frequency bases and filter-banks beyond the classical Fourier family.
  • Geometric modeling: smooth shape interpolation and parameterization of generalized curves.

The explicit algebraic structure of angle-based features rooted in generalized trigonometric identities enables their systematic deployment in mathematical and practical pipelines (Takeuchi, 2016, Ansari et al., 2021).

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