Think about the numbers and what is happening to them in a loop. It may also be good to get a good grasp on vectors and trigonometry.
Right triangle
\
\
\/
|\
opposite -> | \ <-hypotenuse
|__\
^
| adjacent
sin - takes in an angle, and returns a ratio that can exist in the sides, if you multiply this ratio by the length of the hypotenuse, you get the length of the side, sin = opposite / hypotenuse
cos - like sin, cos takes in an angle, and returns a ratio that can exist in the sides, again, if you multiply this ratio by the length of the hypotenuse, you get the length of the side, sin = adjacent / hypotenuse
tan - opposite / adjacent
sin^-1 or asin - this does the opposite of sin, it takes in a ratio and spits out an angle in radians
cos^-1 or acos - this does the opposite of cos, it takes in a ratio and returns an angle in radians
tan^-1 or atan - the opposite of tan adjacent / opposite
Think of them like little programming functions.
Now think of these in a graph, and where the numbers are going, like so
f( x ) = x^2, x@1 = 1, x@2 = 4, x@3 = 9...
Then think of what you are going to do with those numbers, so think for example of what cos/sin do, then use that data in a mathematical formula, and think of that mathematical formula along a graph, and try to figure out if those numbers are what you want, or what you want to do with them, and if you are devising a formula to work well with them.
I don't know if you know trig or how good you are with math, I hope I gave you relevant advice!
Peace!