Tutorial on Trig.....Not

Kenny G

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A short while back one of the members was asking about a Trigonometry tutorial. It got me to thinking (not always a good thing) and I decided to make up a kind of outline that shows my logic when it comes to solving right triangle problems. This is not a tutorial by any means and I am not a mathematician either. I tried to include every possibility for solving a right triangle that I can think of using some very basic trig and algebra.



I have broken it down into 3 basic functions the Pythagorean theory, Tangent function, cosine and sine functions. I’ve attached a PDF and a DXF file of my process. I used a basic 3,4,5 right triangle y=3, x=4, and r=5. I am in no way suggesting this is the only way to to approach this and encourage others to show their methods it is kind of a fun mental exercise. Please feel free to check my formulas, I did but I am not perfect and you may find some sort of error.
 

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  • trig formulas.pdf
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  • trig formulas.dxf
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I think that may have been me....and I will be all ove this. Thank you for the work you put in!
 
The first one completely loses me, 2nd one my ipad and android tablets can't open. Where does SOHCAHTOA come in to play here? Or is that about 30 lessons prior?
 
It's what you use to figure out an unkown length or angle of a right triangle. one of the three. SOH,CAH or TOA.
 
A short while back one of the members was asking about a Trigonometry tutorial. It got me to thinking (not always a good thing) and I decided to make up a kind of outline that shows my logic when it comes to solving right triangle problems. This is not a tutorial by any means and I am not a mathematician either. I tried to include every possibility for solving a right triangle that I can think of using some very basic trig and algebra.



I have broken it down into 3 basic functions the Pythagorean theory, Tangent function, cosine and sine functions. I’ve attached a PDF and a DXF file of my process. I used a basic 3,4,5 right triangle y=3, x=4, and r=5. I am in no way suggesting this is the only way to to approach this and encourage others to show their methods it is kind of a fun mental exercise. Please feel free to check my formulas, I did but I am not perfect and you may find some sort of error.

Your expressions for determining the angles do not look correct (at least not anything that I have ever seen).

Using your terminology, α = arctan(y/x), α = arccos(x/r), and ß = arcsin(x/r). They can also be written as α = tan-1(y/x), α = cos-1 (x/r), and ß = sin-1 (x/r).

I couldn't insert the superscript -1 but you get the idea.
 
The first one completely loses me, 2nd one my ipad and android tablets can't open. Where does SOHCAHTOA come in to play here? Or is that about 30 lessons prior?
It is a mnemonic method to help people remember the basic trig functions, this is part of Highschool trig classes.
You didn't pay attention did you (-:
 
you're absolutely right it should have been tan^-1,cos^-1etc example a=tan^-1(x/y). I was trying to reflect back on the other formulas and should have written it a=tan^-1(tana) where tana=y/x. said I may have made some errors just deleted it in the pdf and dxf and also corrected Pythagoras. Thanks all
 
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I took a lot of math in high-school and JC. The only trig I remember (or have needed) was SOHCAHTOA. Never came up against a triangle it couldn't solve.
 
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