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  #1  
Old 09-19-2005, 12:33 PM
CrazyEyez CrazyEyez is offline
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Default New trigonometry

This guy claims to have revolutionized trig. Has anyone heard about it? Incredible, if it's for real.
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Old 09-19-2005, 03:22 PM
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Default Re: New trigonometry

it sounds great to me...everyone hated trig, right??

anyway i still didn't really get his method (guess i'll have to buy the book)... it seems more like physical application than mathematics, at least when considering his "simple equations" for distance etc...anyway i am nevertheless intrigued... it would be great if these trigonometric functions, and the agonizing process of learing them and all of their wonderous applications, could be done without.
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Old 09-19-2005, 03:32 PM
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Default Re: New trigonometry

Judging from the first chapter, his work is interesting. I am skeptical, however, that students will find it much easier than trigonometry. The old quote about there being no royal road to geometry remains as true as ever.
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Old 09-19-2005, 04:51 PM
3rdEye 3rdEye is offline
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Default Re: New trigonometry

It will be interesting to see if these methods can be applied to calculus. I remember HATING calculating integrals of trigonometric functions.
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  #5  
Old 09-20-2005, 06:57 AM
pzhon pzhon is offline
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Default Re: New trigonometry

[ QUOTE ]
This guy claims to have revolutionized trig. Has anyone heard about it? Incredible, if it's for real.

[/ QUOTE ]
I just looked through the first chapter.

There are some nice points that many calculations can be simplified if you are computing different quantities, such as the squares of lengths and sin^2(angle) instead of the angle. However, there is a lot of hype, and there are numerous misstatements about the point of trigonometry and how it fits into the history of mathematics and curriculum. We would still need classical coordinate systems and classical trigonometry for calculus, analytic geometry, differential geometry, and Fourier analysis, among other things. Using the squares of lengths and sin^2(angle) also makes many simple calculations and relationships become complicated, such as adding two lengths or angles.

It's amusing, but it should not replace trigonometry.
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Old 09-20-2005, 10:59 AM
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Default Re: New trigonometry

I was at UNSW the other day (I'm a student there) and I happened to hear about a talk this dude had. I missed it, but got there in time for the free food [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I made an impulse buy and bought the book, since I had a good day online, if I get around to reading it I'll offer my opinion
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Old 09-20-2005, 11:59 AM
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Default Re: New trigonometry

Thanks Pzhon, didn't want to go to the trouble of reading it.

Obviously the fact that sin x is equal to an infinite power series means this guy couldn't have reduced any of its useful properties to simple algebra, as the article claims. But kudos to him for getting people to buy his book...
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