Triangles

Which of these functions do you usually use first?

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Novax25

TKR 6 - IA Staff
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I imagine that I used to just go in order of sine, cosine, then tangent. But I couldn't tell you for sure, or even how to do this anymore, because I don't think I've needed to do this at all for about 10 years now.

 
I think trigonometry is the perfect example of something taught in the standard curriculum to which our teachers exhort us to pay attention because it'll be "really important our entire lives", and which ultimately becomes entirely useless for like 75%+ of the population. Haven't had to concern myself with trig for 14 years now, and it's been blissful.

That said, I always started with sine.

 
Canbec said:
I think trigonometry is the perfect example of something taught in the standard curriculum to which our teachers exhort us to pay attention because it'll be "really important our entire lives", and which ultimately becomes entirely useless for like 75%+ of the population. Haven't had to concern myself with trig for 14 years now, and it's been blissful.

That said, I always started with sine.
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I do, in fairness, grant credence to the idea that it’s important to stretch your brain in new ways to learn how to solve problems via different methods. In the same way that I would emphasize the need for STEM students to take philosophy or (more ideally) literature and history courses, it’s good that we make kids more interested in the humanities take stuff like trig and pre-calculus at the very least.

 
Canbec said:
I think trigonometry is the perfect example of something taught in the standard curriculum to which our teachers exhort us to pay attention because it'll be "really important our entire lives", and which ultimately becomes entirely useless for like 75%+ of the population. Haven't had to concern myself with trig for 14 years now, and it's been blissful.

That said, I always started with sine.
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The main point of school from prep - year 12 is to expose you to a lot of different topics and teach you several different ways to take in information in a lot of different forms and come up with ways to understand and process them. You might not remember how to do these things, but you do have the skill to teach yourself how to do it again and this knowledge has subconsciously helped you solve other problems that may look unrelated. School's main job is to teach you how to teach yourself

 
WarriorSoul said:
I do, in fairness, grant credence to the idea that it’s important to stretch your brain in new ways to learn how to solve problems via different methods. In the same way that I would emphasize the need for STEM students to take philosophy or (more ideally) literature and history courses, it’s good that we make kids more interested in the humanities take stuff like trig and pre-calculus at the very least.
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Oh absolutely. I'm not at all criticizing the fact students are taught trig. I think a wide curriculum is exactly what students need in order to be exposed to things outside their comfort zone.

I'm just saying this is an example of something most people will never use outside school. Doesn't mean that's a bad thing.

cc @Doctor so I don't have to respond to his other post

 
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