Skip Navigation

Science Memes @mander.xyz

fossilesque @mander.xyz

3mo ago

Harm

42 comments

I'm pretty dumb, so I don't understand this one.
- Pythagorean theorem.
  Although, don't solve this or else Pythagoras might throw you off of a boat
  
  Pretty sure this is Pythagorean Identity, theorem is a²+b²=c²
- Probably that trigonometry is the highest math the average person will take?
  
  I got to calculus 2 and proceeded to forget everything through algebra II once I took a break from math for a semester.

You leave my unit circle alone!

Why?
- SOH CAH TOA
  
  Ah, sohcahtoa. Not to be confused with
  
  Please elaborate.

Believe this was featured in a paper that recently used trig to prove the Pythagorean theorem (previously thought to be a circular definition). I think some highschoolers cracked it as part of a mathematics challenge or something.

Someone needs to turn this into loss

Why is it 1
- It was freely chosen for simplicity.
  If you choose another R, the other sides (x and y) become Rcos(th) and Rsin(th)
  I don't understand what is harmful about the unity circle either.
- Any circle could have its radius technically be 1, as long as you set the units of measurement so that 1 equals the radius of the circle.
  
  units? what are those? I never use units, or pay attention to capitals. pure math ftw, baby!
- Because it's a unit circle.
- for the same reason that rulers start with 1, it would be utterly pointless to use anything else.
  
  Your ruler starts with 1? How do you measure stuff between 0 and 1?

the unit circle lives in my nightmares.

Took me a minute to notice, but it was worth it
- Notice what??
  ::: spoiler You can use the spoiler tag No spoiler :::
- Notice what, exactly. I still don't get it.
  
  Take a look again, it's still there

- SOH CAH TOA is just a trick to make rote memorization of procedure easier. Understanding the unit circle will let you understand what trigonometry is actually doing.
- Yeah, dividing a circle into 360 parts, then subdividing those by 60, and further subdividing those by 60 makes so much more sense than just using ratio of a number fundamental to circles themselves.

42 comments