I wonder when this will make it into my Calculus book...
Though, might it be more fun if you did that?
Math is full of silly sounding words and funny looking symbols that put people off.
He claimed to use trigonometric principles in his music (deciding which chords to play or something – don’t ask me).
That was all about a million years ago though. Like anything else, if you don’t use it for a couple of decades you may as well have never taken it.
I'll believe that when I see it!
Just the next step of DUMBING DOWN American students so we can fall to LAST PLACE in the world!
I still like clinton's head of the education dept having the parts of an animal cell reduced from (I am not a biologist) over 100 down to 4 stating - there is no need for anyone to learn any more than these basic four parts (it could have been six - been too many years). This is dangerous because he was speaking of COLLEGE LEVEL biology - where they teach medicine, bio-research, etc. It was a blatant dumbing-down measure.
The book's content is largely elementary, but is presented concisely. It requires mathematical maturity and skill at algebraic manipulation, along with an interest in geometry and its applications. It will be especially valuable to
Professional mathematicians, especially those with an interest in geometry (including algebraic geometry and differential geometry), number theory, combinatorics and special functions
Scientists with an interest in mathematics, i.e. physicists, chemists
Engineers and some computer scientists
Mathematically talented high school students
Undergraduate mathematics or physics majors
High school and college mathematics teachers and lecturers
Amateur mathematicians with strong algebraic skills and an interest in geometry.
General members of the public who do not fit into one of these categories may well find the book too technical to be easily accessible. Dr Wildberger intends on writing a companion book at a more elementary level which explains the subject to the general public.
What simplification?
Smells fishy to me!
FReeeePeee!
OhMiGod, they killed Pricess SohCahToa!
Sine=Opposite/Hypotenuse
Cosine=Adjacent/Hypotenuse
Tangent=Opposite/Adjacent
From what I remember of trig, this was all trig was. The beginning stuff wasn't too difficult w/ a calculator.
If you got this concept, physics 101 was fairly easy to follow too.
I write trig functions in software for a living. This stuff might make some things faster, simply by avoiding trig functions.
You can do trig like stuff with matrix algebra, although I don't understand it except to use existing functions. It's much faster than trig functions. Maybe this stuff is based on a simplified matrix algebra.
> These new concepts mean that trigonometric problems
> can be done with algebra ...
I've been doing a lot of angles work in constructing a
new house, and frankly, I'd rather work with classic
trig than algebra.
In any event, it will be interesting to see this theory.
Unfortunately, the wildegg site is pure hype, and the
web.maths.unsw.edu.au site is non-responsive.
ping
""And we mathematicians wonder why so many people view our beautiful subject with distaste bordering on hostility."
Yep...still have bad memories of Mr. Bigalow for high school geometry trying to stuff my mathematically empty head with theoroms and postulates, etc.
However, when I got to college I had a wonderful woman professor who we called "Dr. Marie"...I had her for "Mathimatical Statistics" ...she was an outstanding instructor and her's was the only math class I took in all of my academic history that made any sense at all. (I got an "A") (Also learned a ton about playing "Keno" using statistics).
" we have relied on the false assumptions that distance is the best way to measure the separation of two points"
I didn't see any better assumption in his article. I googled up "quadrance" and "spread" and learned that that these are not linearly additive metrics. I suspect that this "new" trigonometry achieves simplicity by requiring complexity in the measurement of quadrance and spread. I can't think of anything simpler, or more intuitive, than using a ruler and a protractor.
Trig is elementary for folks with a bit of mathematical acuity. I really don't see the point of trying to devise a simpler trig. It's useless for most for those whose abilities are in other areas.
I taught myself math, so I like it. But you have to spend a lot of time looking for the right books.
oh great...now what do i do with all these x's & y's i've hoarding ?
I did hear about a mathematician that got pi eyed.