"goobledegook = e + 5.6. Wow you didn't know about goobledegook? Let me teach you about this revolutionary concept." I majored in mathematics and can say I've never heard of versine and have probably used it many times without knowing. I don't think everything needs a name.
I think the point of these was for when they read low-precision values out of a printed table and then multiplied them using slide rules. Even though the article doesn't say it, I can't think of any other practical reason to multiply by adding logarithms.
Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
21–30 of 144 posts
Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#22Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
It kind of helps a non Mathie like me doing trig. But I'll ask fof one better: I would love an application that lets me plug in what I have (coords and angles), what I want, and for it to show me how to get it.
Does it? No one does this: var STRAWBERRY_PI = 1 + Math.PI; For example, no one doing math will use τ (2𝛑) and 𝛑 simultaneously. Choose one or the other, otherwise you are increasing the number of symbols someone has to learn to understand your math. Naming everything is overwhelming. Mathematics is about similarities, not differences. If the transformation is trivial, then don't bother creating a new symbol. It wi…
As far as I can tell, the main reason this gets done is to give commonly recurring quantities single symbols, to reduce errors in lengthy calculations. When those recurring quantities are meaningfully different, in ways that help prime one's intuition, that's all the more reason to do it.
Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#24Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#25Vers- is just from versus "opposite/against". But versine isn't opposite of sine, if anything it's opposing cosine. I too am curious this how this naming convention arose.
Trigonometry never really clicked for me. I can remember the formulas and such, but I never really understood what they meant. It was an exercise in remembering but never knowing.
Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#26Vers- is just from versus "opposite/against". But versine isn't opposite of sine, if anything it's opposing cosine. I too am curious this how this naming convention arose.
It always bugged me that secant is 1/cosine, cosecant is 1/sine, and cotangent is 1/tangent. Like what does co- mean? Trigonometry never really clicked for me. I can remember the formulas and such, but I never really understood what they meant. It was an exercise in remembering but never knowing.
For the secant and tangent, it originates from the geometry of the unit circle. The first image in the article explains it well.
Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#27For those interested in this topic, I wrote a similar blog post on the geometric interpretation of the various trig functions, which also includes some similar diagrams for the hyperbolic trig functions: sinh, cosh, tanh, sech, etc. http://extremelearning.com.au/trigonometry-visualised/
> "Sanskirt for 'chord'
Sanskrit, you mean?
Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it? No one does this: var STRAWBERRY_PI = 1 + Math.PI; For example, no one doing math will use τ (2𝛑) and 𝛑 simultaneously. Choose one or the other, otherwise you are increasing the number of symbols someone has to learn to understand your math. Naming everything is overwhelming. Mathematics is about similarities, not differences. If the transformation is trivial, then don't bother creating a new symbol. It wi…
I don't agree at all. This happens all the time. For example, electrical engineering has f , ω , and s , all only differing by basic factors of 2 π or i . As far as I can tell, the main reason this gets done is to give commonly recurring quantities single symbols, to reduce errors in lengthy calculations. When those recurring quantities are meaningfully different, in ways that help prime one's intuition, that's all t…
Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#29https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollweide%27s_formula?wprov=sf...
Re: Obsolete trig functions and why we don't use them anymore (2013)
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it? No one does this: var STRAWBERRY_PI = 1 + Math.PI; For example, no one doing math will use τ (2𝛑) and 𝛑 simultaneously. Choose one or the other, otherwise you are increasing the number of symbols someone has to learn to understand your math. Naming everything is overwhelming. Mathematics is about similarities, not differences. If the transformation is trivial, then don't bother creating a new symbol. It wi…
I don't agree at all. This happens all the time. For example, electrical engineering has f , ω , and s , all only differing by basic factors of 2 π or i . As far as I can tell, the main reason this gets done is to give commonly recurring quantities single symbols, to reduce errors in lengthy calculations. When those recurring quantities are meaningfully different, in ways that help prime one's intuition, that's all t…
f: consumer electronics ω: circuits s: frequency response
Having multiples of terms for each is definitely a hindrance to education. It makes switching between each use a mental headache.