Essential Trigonometry
Trigonometry is one of the most important and widely applied branches of mathematics. It comes in two flavors: triangle trigonometry and circular trigonometry. Triangle trigonometry, the kind featured on the SAT/ACT, is concerned only with solving right triangles (i.e. finding unknown side lengths and angle measures). A tiny number of basic trig facts and processes are tested in a relatively small number of SAT/ACT math questions. Nevertheless, students aiming for top scores must master each of these elements. Following is what you need to know. - Three primary trig ratios Definition: SOH CAH TOA (sin, cos, tan). Solving right triangles using SOH CAH TOA Converting radians to/from degrees 1rad = 180/pi. 1deg = pi/180. Sinusoidal curves Amplitude: vertical distance between midline and upper/lower bound. Period: horizontal distance between repeating points on the curve (e.g. peaks). Cofunctions of compliments are equal For example: sin(50 degrees) = cos(40 degrees). - For prac...