Basic Trigonometric Functions
Basic Trigonometric functions are concerned with functions of angles, and how they relate to periodic phenomena. Periodic phenomena can be described with mathematical formulas that are defined on the unit circle, which is a circle with radius of one unit.
Read the chapters in our book on the unit circle, pi, sines, and cosines. Then,
choose at least one of the following 3 sites on trigonometry, and comment using the form at the bottom of this page.
Oolong Trigonometry
http://www.teachersfirst.com/20/getsource.cfm?id=4486
http://www.themathpage.com/aTrig/trigonometry.htm
VIDEO: Basic Trigonometry
Exercises
Read Math:Trigonometry and do the associated exercises.
More Trigonometry practice: http://www.teachersfirst.com/20/getsource.cfm?id=9325
Sines
What is the Law of Sines?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_sines
What are wave forms and why are they important?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_wave
Why is it that radar uses radians instead of pi? Read Radians to Degrees and Back Again.
VIDEO: The Law of Sines
Discussion:
How does the sine wave relate to the unit circle? Can you find an example on the Internet?
Cosines
What is the Law of Cosines? How does it relate to basic trigonometry?
www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/trig-cosine-law.html
Discussion:
How do cosines relate to the unit circle? Can you find an example on the Internet?
VIDEO: The Law of Cosines
Pi
What is Pi, who discovered it, and why is it important?
pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is always denoted with the greek letter named pi. For more information, let us ask The Great Courses.
What else does pi have to do with circles? see The Circle. This is a good review of how circles are used before we go much further into similar mathematics using trigonometric functions instead of circumference, radius, and diameter.
VIDEO: The Unit Circle
Real World Trigonometry
How is trigonometry used in the real world? Navigation, engineering, and astronomy are all sciences that rely heavily on trigonometry. Can you find a word problem from another science that uses sines, cosines, radians, the unit circle, or pi? Do not solve the problem, just identify it and bring it to class.
This is a paper and pencil exercise.