<p>There is a long tradition of using flexible functional forms for cost, utility or production functions. This can be done using a (low) order series expansion. Usually, these are Taylor expansions. For example the translog is a second order polynomial in log prices.</p>
<p>Of course, one could also use a Fourier expansion, which would give a function in terms of cosine and sine functions.</p>
<p>See for example the appendix of <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/wjagec/32240.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Griffin, Montgomery, Rister,(1987) &quot;Selecting Functional Form In Production Function Analysis,&quot; Western Journal of Agricultural Economics</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-14T18:34:56.150Z
2021-05-14T18:34:56.150Z
tdm
<p>I've been reading on producer theory and came up with a ridiculous question. Has anyone tried to model costs with a trigonometric function? would it work with the assumptions we need? Thanks!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-14T17:24:01.040Z
"*would it work with the assumptions we need?*" What exactly are this needed assumptions?
Giskard
<microeconomics><nonexpert><cost-functions>
Trigonometric Cost Function
Tlarre
# Trigonometric Cost Function

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-05-14)

I've been reading on producer theory and came up with a ridiculous question. Has anyone tried to model costs with a trigonometric function? would it work with the assumptions we need? Thanks!

**Tags:** microeconomics, nonexpert, cost-functions

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: "*would it work with the assumptions we need?*" What exactly are this needed assumptions?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-05-14. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

There is a long tradition of using flexible functional forms for cost, utility or production functions. This can be done using a (low) order series expansion. Usually, these are Taylor expansions. For example the translog is a second order polynomial in log prices.

Of course, one could also use a Fourier expansion, which would give a function in terms of cosine and sine functions.

See for example the appendix of [Griffin, Montgomery, Rister,(1987) "Selecting Functional Form In Production Function Analysis," Western Journal of Agricultural Economics](https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/wjagec/32240.html)


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