Thread: Rational Trigonometry

There's a guy on youtube.com explaining what he calls RATIONAL TRIGONOMETRY.

What level of math is that?

What is the use of such trigonometry?

Originally Posted by magentarita

There's a guy on youtube.com explaining what he calls RATIONAL TRIGONOMETRY.

What level of math is that?

What is the use of such trigonometry?

what did the guy say when he was talking about Rational Trigonometry?

The level varies, it can go from low level high school geometry, to higher levels. it is formulated a bit differently from regular trig though. so it might not be an approach taught widely in high school.

the use of such trig is the same as regular trig. only applied differently, with different notation and perhaps in different contexts. see Rational trigonometry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(I know it's a late reply, but someone reported this post and i wanted to answer it)

Originally Posted by Jhevon

what did the guy say when he was talking about Rational Trigonometry?

The level varies, it can go from low level high school geometry, to higher levels. it is formulated a bit differently from regular trig though. so it might not be an approach taught widely in high school.

the use of such trig is the same as regular trig. only applied differently, with different notation and perhaps in different contexts. see Rational trigonometry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(I know it's a late reply, but someone reported this post and i wanted to answer it)

Here's what the guy looks like and what is teaching:

Originally Posted by magentarita

Here's what the guy looks like and what is teaching:

well, as you may be able to tell, this is just a reformulation of good ol' fashioned trigonometry. if you pay close attention, you will notice that these "laws" he is referring to, are things like Pythaogoras' theorem, the law of sines, the law of cosines, etc. he just calls them by different names and use different elements in the formula. for instance, see what happens if you replace "spread of two lines" with "the sine of the angle between the two lines", you will notice that spread is talking about the old sine = opposite/hypotenuse ratio. so it is really familiar trig in a new light. as for the advantages of this new formulation, i am not aware of what they are, but i am sure there are some, or else no one would waste time coming up with it

Originally Posted by Jhevon

well, as you may be able to tell, this is just a reformulation of good ol' fashioned trigonometry. if you pay close attention, you will notice that these "laws" he is referring to, are things like Pythaogoras' theorem, the law of sines, the law of cosines, etc. he just calls them by different names and use different elements in the formula. for instance, see what happens if you replace "spread of two lines" with "the sine of the angle between the two lines", you will notice that spread is talking about the old sine = opposite/hypotenuse ratio. so it is really familiar trig in a new light. as for the advantages of this new formulation, i am not aware of what they are, but i am sure there are some, or else no one would waste time coming up with it

I took trig in high school back in 1983 and then it was introduced to me again in a college precalculus course. It was never taught using rational trigonometry concepts or as taught by the guy on youtube.com.

Originally Posted by magentarita

I took trig in high school back in 1983 and then it was introduced to me again in a college precalculus course. It was never taught using rational trigonometry concepts or as taught by the guy on youtube.com.

neither have i, and i would say that few have. i wouldn't worry about this too much, unless there is some specific reason you want to know it. good ol' fashion trigonometry is good enough

Originally Posted by Jhevon

neither have i, and i would say that few have. i wouldn't worry about this too much, unless there is some specific reason you want to know it. good ol' fashion trigonometry is good enough

I love math. I am reviewing all this stuff first introduced to me way back in high school over 20 years ago. At age 44, I have hope to major in math BEFORE age 50. I just can't get enough math.