Trigonometry

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I’m Soumya Marri from grade 9A.I like trying new dishes, vintage thigs, exploring new genres of music, and I enjoy dancing too!

One of the most important concepts in Mathematics, Trigonometry, derives its name from the Greek word “trigonon” and “metron” meaning triangle and measure respectively. It is the branch which deals with the sides and angles in a triangle and their relations. The field emerged in the late 3rd century B.C, its concepts being applied in astronomy and geometry.

Today, Trigonometry is taught as the relations between the sides (t-ratios) and how it can be used in other concepts of math. They are often taught in school as a part of precalculus. Trigonometric functions are used to understand cyclic phenomena across subjects like physics, electrical engineering, music, astronomy, ecology and biology. The majority of the applications are associated with the right angled triangle, One exception is spherical trigonometry which is the study of triangles on spheres, and is vastly used in astronomy and navigation.

In 3rd century B.C, Hellenistic mathematicians such as Archimedes and Euclid studied the properties of chords and inscribed angles and proved theorems that are equivalent to modern day trigonometric formulae. In the 2nd century A.D, a Greco-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy had detailed trigonometric tables printed in his book. He had used the chord length to define trigonometric ratios, a minor difference from what we use today.

The modern sine convention was first verified by the 5th century Indian astronomer, Aryabhata. Both the Greek and Indian work were translated and expanded by the Islamic mathematicians.

One of the major historical applications of trigonometry was measuring distances you could not reach, example the distance between the Earth and Moon, or the Earth and Sun.

Math topics such as Fourier series(representation of wave like functions) and Fourier transforms also rely on the basic formulae of Trigonometry. Fourier transforms’ concepts are heavily used in modern day Music and Statistics.

In conclusion, Trigonometry has always been an important part of our everyday lives and will always play an essential part in the future.