Monday, February 25

MY TURN TO SCRIBE ~ HOOOOOOO!
It was my turn to scribe so...

First of all, we started out by going over the test about maximum area of a triangle. So we have point P on the unit circle. B on the x-axis and it has to be a right angle triangle. What's the maximum area? Well we know that the area of a triangle is base x height divided by 2 and the base and height is equal to the x and y components of the triangle. We also know that the x and y components are equal to the sine and cosine of the central angle. We tested out the values and found that as the angle goes up the area would also increase but after π/4 radians the area would go down again. That means the sine and cosine of π/4 radians will give up the largest area.

After that, we went over question N on the sheet. Turns it out it was not a typo and we actually had to factor out the 2 pi. This will give us a period of 1. After that we went over some more transformations and Ｉ a few important things we should know. For example, parameter B is not the period itself, but actually helps us calculate the period. If we substitute B in the formula: period = 2π/b. Another important tip we should know is if we are given parameter A = -1/2 and we are asked for the amplitude, then the answer would be 1/2 and not -1/2. This is because the amplitude is the distance from the sinusoidal axis to the maximum or minimum points. Therefore, distance cannot be negative because this would destroy all logic. In other words, read your questions carefully, if it asks for amplitude, then discard the negative sign but if it asks for the value of parameter A then you include the value of A.
A few minutes later, we were given a wave graphed on the Cartesian Plane and were asked to write the equation of the graph in sine and cosine. Turns out there are INFINITE ways of writing the equation so... there's nothing to complain about there and plus we will only be required to only write one or two (max) equations on tests and the provincial exam.
Somewhere in the class, we looked at the infamous tangent function. Finally after a few of us were dying to see it, it was revealed. The tangent function is kinda special. It appears to be like x³ but IS NOT. The curvature is slighty different. Another feature of the wonderful tangent functions is asymptotes. Asymptotes are areas where tangent cannot exist. Since tangent is a trigonometrical function it has to do with triangles. At certain angles, tangent does not form a triangle therefore tangent cannot exist. Tangent can also be infinitely large unlike sine and cosine which are confined to -1~1.
That pretty much wraps up the class. Until next time.