A plain-English guide to the basics of trig

Trigonometry deals with the relationship between the sides and angles of triangles... mostly right triangles. In practical use, trigonometry is a friend to astronomers who use triangulation to measure the distance between stars. Trig also has applications in fields as broad as financial analysis, music theory, biology, medical imaging, cryptology, game development, and seismology.

From sines and cosines to logarithms, conic sections, and polynomials, this friendly guide takes the torture out of trigonometry, explaining basic concepts in plain English and offering lots of easy-to-grasp example problems. It also explains the "why" of trigonometry, using real-world examples that illustrate the value of trigonometry in a variety of careers.

• Tracks to a typical Trigonometry course at the high school or college level
• Packed with example trig problems
• From the author of Trigonometry Workbook For Dummies

Trigonometry For Dummies is for any student who needs an introduction to, or better understanding of, high-school to college-level trigonometry.

Learn to:

• Solve tricky trig equations
• Graph functions and figure out formulas
• Use trigonometry to solve practical problems

Your guide to getting an angle on sines, cosines, and tangents

Confused by cosines? Perplexed by polynomials? Don't worry! This friendly guide takes the torture out of trigonometry by explaining everything in plain English, offering lots of easy-to-grasp examples, and adding a dash of humor and fun. You'll see the ways trig applies to everyday life, and how it's an important tool for a variety of careers.

• Start with basics -- get up and running with an overview of trig functions, radians, and more
• Learn tricky trig functions -- take things to the next level with SOH-CAH-TOA and circular functions
• Identify identities -- dig into reciprocal, ratio, opposite-angle, and Pythagorean identities
• Make trig work -- get practical with trig, find out how to use your calculator for complex solutions, and solve trig equations
• Graph functions -- figure out the basics of graphing sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, and more

Open the book and find:

• Definitions of trigonometry functions
• How to get down with Pythagoras and his theorem
• Ways to use Cartesian coordinates
• The lowdown on the sine, cosine, and tangent functions
• How to go 'round and 'round with circular functions
• The scoop on inverse trigonometry
• Details on graphing trig functions
• Ten basic identities and ten not-so-basic identities