Understanding Trigonometry

[derrickd241]

So, I'm currently taking analytic trig this semester, and I'm understanding much much more about it after I watched this video, it actually is pretty amazing to think about, when you understand it better, I've learned about Soh Cah Toa it's just not useful unless its visualized via 3d model.  Are there anymore tricks to trig to that I'm not aware of?  I've asked some people who say omg trig is so easy... its not at least for me of course I don't do trig everyday either lol 

 

[Mug]

Thing with trig is once you get the hang of it it's easy but getting the hang of it is difficult. Do some research into deriving the equations then it'll become second nature to you. 

I'm not sure what level of trig you're on but if you're struggling with it, add it to this thread and I'll try to give you a hand. I didn't do any maths bar what was mandatory but I have a degree in Chemistry and a solid grade in Physics A Level so I must be fairly good at it.

[DogeOfTech]

Once you understand how the shapes work and get the hang of the equations it will be incredibly easier. Just getting over that hump is what makes the difference, but I would be happy to help along with @Mug

[Bouzoo]

Trigonometry as such is not hard, as others have said to you, but you need a bit (lot) of practice. In my experience, the best thing you an do is try to learn how to visualise. It will help you a lot later on when you'll be faced with more complex problems. 

The thing that I use to this day, is placing everything in a room. 3D system may be complex sometimes, especially in my "branch", so it's easier for me to imagine the 3D system, or better to say the axis, as the bottom corners of a room. So you have X, Y and Z axis there as the "lines" where the walls/floor meet. Then observing, or let's say imagining how things should be placed at the said corner, helps me quite often on what I need to do. 

One more thing you should do, if you're interested in it, is trying to understand the theory behind it. Most people, even in uni, just learn how to solve stuff, let's say like a template, without understanding why they are doing something (I do it myself sometimes if I don't have the time to properly study ). If you understand the theory, and why is something as it is, then you'll have no problem. After all, solving the exams is indirectly applying the theory without you knowing it. 

[Ithanul]

Agree with others.  Usually my favorite thing to do is the sketch the angles out, a basic shape of the triangle, or grid.

Though, I just did some Trig last term.  Think the tricky bit was doing proofs of identities.

[straight_stewie]

20 hours ago, derrickd241 said:

So, I'm currently taking analytic trig this semester, and I'm understanding much much more about it after I watched this video, it actually is pretty amazing to think about, when you understand it better, I've learned about Soh Cah Toa it's just not useful unless its visualized via 3d model.  Are there anymore tricks to trig to that I'm not aware of?  I've asked some people who say omg trig is so easy... its not at least for me of course I don't do trig everyday either lol 

Trig is super easy, once you understand it. But one does not simply understand trig. The reason for this is that it's basically, just memorization, salted to perfect annoyance with a little bit of algebra. 

For example, a question like: How is Sin actually calculated? Has a very simple (but hard to understand) answer:

It's the binomial expansion of X. So suppose we want to calculate sin(x). It then becomes this lovely thing: sin(x) = x - x^3/3! + x^5/5! - x^7/7! + x^9/9! - ... + + (-1)^(n-1)*x^(2n-1)/(2n-1)! + .... to infinity

[derrickd241]

Thanks everyone, I'm slowly getting the hang of it, it's just taking some time.  The video really really helped though so now I can sort of visualize what the heck I"m supposed to do.  The whole class is struggling, so I don't feel as bad.  The teacher said this was the hardest math class that she taught so that's pretty cool too lol