Talk:Trigonometry/Archive 1

Level of Course

 * "is trig really considered a subject for *advanced* HS students?". This will differ between places and some school systems don't parallel particularly well with the (standard?) US one. --Swift 04:09, 17 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Most states' high school curriculum, advanced average or basic, typically require up to Algebra II (Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II) to be completed. However, all high schools attempt to motivate the kids to take up to Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry and the advanced kids to take Calculus. So, for normal/basic students they would reach Trigonometry. For advanced, they'd reach Calculus. At least, that's how it is in Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan. Probably more states too. --Jaden Mathos 04:23, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Problems from a precalculus book
Robinson0120 Hey, all. I have a Precalculus textbook at the moment and I noticed that there weren't any problems in this Wikibook. Should I take a few out of the textbook and put them on the page with answers and explanations? I haven't really contributed anything yet and it looks like something I could do. If there's a heads up, I'll go ahead and do it. Thanks!


 * Problems are a good idea, but the ones in your book are probably copyrighted. See Copyrights for details. --Swift 04:09, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Robinson0120 That's not a problem, I could just change a few of the numbers and alter a few of the situations. They can't have a copyright on the concept, right? I'll go ahead and get started.


 * I'd be very careful here. Textbook authors usually include examples that have proven to work on their students. That involves a lot of work. Let's not show them the disrespect of leaching off their work. Copying them in any way is a violation of their copyright.
 * These problems are very simple to make up (I'll help you if you'd like) but if there are a number that look simlar to a book, then we might be in trouble. I recommend you not to use the book for anything more than glancing through to get ideas. --Swift 01:40, 18 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Very well, Swift. I don't have the book anymore anyways; I'm going to go ahead and think some up right now. I need some help in deciding how to implement the problems though. Should we have a separate page with problems and answers, or add it to the wikibook page?Robinson0120 00:43, 25 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Depends on the number. There is no need for a seperate page if there will only be a few of them. As the number grows, split the page up by moving them to a seperate page. --Swift 06:17, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Standardized Problems and Solutions
Hey all. I just found a great template that I think we should standardize and use for all questions and solutions. The template looks like this:

|{| class="navbox collapsible collapsed" style="text-align: left; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.2em;" |- ! style="background-color: #B4CDCD;" | |- | style="border: solid 1px silver; padding: 8px; background-color: white;" | |}

Just disregard the first |; I put that in so that I could put lines around the text. In any event, it looks like a great way to present problems. Here's one I made:

(NOTE: To see the way it actually looks on the page, follow this link to my talk page and look at "Template Example": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Robinson0120)

http://www.december.com/html/spec/color.html has a number of hexadecimal colors to choose from for the question and answer background, too.

So, what does everybody think? Robinson0120 03:13, 25 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Sure, it looks like a good way to display problems and solutions. --Swift 06:20, 25 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Looks fine and all, but having the problem immediately followed by the solution could be very annoying for a student who's actually trying to apply their mind to the problem, the answer waving in their face and all. I have a statistics self-study book like that, and it's my least favorite of all the math book I've ever used.  In fact, I despise it.  I do think that providing extensive problem sets for each topic is an invaluable addition that we really need to work on.  It's the difference between a sketchy summary and a useful textbook, IMO. --Fyedernoggersnodden 19:20, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Front cover created for this book
I'm planning to expand this book quite significantly and then make an actual book from it, which looks like an actual textbook. Here's the front cover, thus far. Careful, the file is gigantic :-P James.Spudeman 01:20, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I like the idea, but I must comment that (a) this is the same background image being used at the head of the Calculus wikibook, and (b) while the nautilus is a wonderful and elegant example of the beauty of mathematics, it's doesn't really scream "Trigonometry" to me. I could, however, go for an illustration of waves (Lots of artistic potential there!) or even, if we must be ordinary, triangles. --someone unsigned
 * Well we could overlay a right-triangle spiral and get some real and imaginary waves, ocean and graphed, onto the cover. That would be in keeping with the sea shell motif.  All we need now is a talented mathematical artist.JamesCrook (talk) 12:51, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Moving trig out of algebra
Is it true that a college algebra book, or high school algebra book, or whatever, has no trig in it? So, I am new here but I don't understand why this part of the book had to be moved out of an algebra book just because it is trig? And, I don't understand why the message saying it was removed is in the book and not in the discussion section. Isn't this what a discussion section is for? NumberTheorist (talk) 17:21, 10 February 2010 (UTC)


 * An algebra book may contain a little trigonometry, but doesn't specialize in it (at most, it may just reference sin as a function). A book on Trigonometry places a specific focus on the topic, and will include more detailed descriptions of appropriate functions or equations.  (e.g. the law of cosines may not be suitable for a simple algebra book.) --Sigma 7 (talk) 15:13, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

A third book?
The intended structure seems to be an elementary book that moves slowly step by step and an advanced book that assumes a knowledge of calculus and complex numbers. Should there be another book, between or after them, that assumes some sophistication, so can move rapidly, but not the more advanced stuff? This new book could include the stuff for enthusiasts and the sections I am adding about associated circles, plus material like the formula for sin 18º.--Wisden (talk) 19:09, 4 December 2010 (UTC)


 * You could put the various circles and sin 18º in the 'for enthusiasts' section, but if in book one I think you would still have to assume that algebraic manipulations need to be done step by step. So I guess, yes, I am OK with a third book that takes the algebra a lot faster, but that still does not depend on calculus or complex numbers.  I very much like the core/enthusiasts division within a book so don't want to lose that.  If you want to make a book 'between' 1 and 2, and take some of the enthusiasts pages into it (as enthusiast pages) that is fine.  Delaunay triangulation would certainly belong with the circumcircle page. -- JamesCrook (talk) 15:08, 5 December 2010 (UTC)


 * You might also want to pick up some topics from Trigonometry/Teachers_Notes/Khan_Academy_Videos (such as polar coordinates) that are not in book 1. -- JamesCrook (talk) 15:57, 5 December 2010 (UTC)