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Trig ratios: updated interactive

By Murray Bourne, 01 Jul 2013

Math teachers tend to present the trigonometric identities to students and expect instant understanding and acceptance.

It would be better in many cases to let the students discover for themselves how such identities work. We don't always have the luxury of time for exploration in most math classrooms, but it is something that we should try to do.

I just updated an interactive graph that allows students to explore 2 key trig identities, for any angle θ:

\tan\theta=\frac{\sin\theta}{\cos\theta}

and

\sin^2\theta+\cos^2\theta=1

Here it is: Trigonometric Ratios - Interactive Graph

Let me know if it is useful for you, or your students. Your suggestions are always welcome, too.

See the 2 Comments below.

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Posted in Mathematics category - 01 Jul 2013 [Permalink]

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2 Comments on “Trig ratios: updated interactive”

  1. greg says:
    5 Jul 2013 at 6:00 pm [Comment permalink]

    Thanks for the new
    "Trigonometric Ratios – Interactive Graph".
    page at:
    https://www.intmath.com/analytic-trigonometry/trig-ratios-interactive.php

    Would it be possible
    to also show
    the angle Theta value,
    (in BOTH Degrees and Radians)?.

  2. Murray says:
    10 Jul 2013 at 5:14 pm [Comment permalink]

    @Greg: Possible, and now in place. (You may need to reload the page, Ctrl-F5, to see the updated version.)

    Hope it helps!

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