MathCast: Trigonometry

In most Colleges and Universities a course in Trigonometry is offered after a student has completed College Algebra and before the student goes on to Calculus. Trigonometry is a very important part of our daily lives. Every time you get into an automobile you experience the transformation of angular velocity to linear velocity that gets you to your destination. Every time you take a trip by air ; Vectors help you get there! Would you believe that your lawn mower blade is turning at the equivalent of approximately 120 miles per hour ( about 190 Kilometers per hour). Sadly, I encounter students in my Calculus classes who had not taken Trig, or not taken it seriously, and they pay a heavy price!

This set of videos is designed to cover all the major topics in Trigonometry in small segments, which you can stop and re-play at any time until you get it!

Our assumption is that you have successfully completed a College Algebra course and are continuing your career in mathematics, science or engineering.

We start this course with the basic definition of an angle and develop the basic principles of Trig. We discuss angular measurement in degrees and radians, angular velocity, basic trig functions, sine, cosine and tangent functions and their reciprocals cosecant, secant and cotangent. We show you how to plot these functions. We introduce Trig Identities and strategies to prove them. The course also covers Inverse Trig Function, Solving Triangles using the Laws of Sines and Cosines and how to solve a variety of trig problems. The course also covers the Complex Plane, Polar Co-ordinates and Parametric Functions.

Math is not a spectator sport! To get really good at it you must work problems to re-enforce your understanding. To that end we have includes numerous examples of how to solve various problems

The topics presented in Trigonometry include, but are not limited to, Angles, angular measure in radians and degrees, how to graph the various trig functions, trig identities and how to prove them, Inverse Trig Functions, Vectors, the complex and polar planes, parametric equations and more.