W. Michael Kelley - The Humongous Book of Trigonometry Problems

Translated
for People
who dont
Speak Math!!

by W. Michael Kelley

ALPHA BOOKS

Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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Copyright 2012 by W. Michael Kelley

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of information contained herein. For information, address Alpha Books, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46240.

ISBN: 978-1-61564-269-4
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2012933501

14 13 12 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Interpretation of the printing code: The rightmost number of the first series of numbers is the year of the books printing; the rightmost number of the second series of numbers is the number of the books printing. For example, a printing code of 12-1 shows that the first printing occurred in 2012.

Printed in the United States of America

Note: This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering professional services in the book. If the reader requires personal assistance or advice, a competent professional should be consulted.

The author and publisher specifically disclaim any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

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ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

Are you in a Trigonometry class? Are you trying to help a friend or loved one with a math class but discovering that you dont remember everything you used to know about math? Are you the curious sort who used to dislike math but now want to figure it out, once and for all?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, then you NEED this book. Heres why:

Fact #1: The best way to develop trigonometry skills is by working out trigonometry problems.

Theres no denying it. If you could figure this class out just by reading the textbook or taking good notes in class, everybody would pass with flying colors. Unfortunately, the harsh truth is that you have to buckle down and work problems out until your fingers are numb.

Fact #2: Most textbooks only tell you WHAT the answers to their practice problems are but not HOW to do them!

Sure your textbook may have 175 problems for every topic, but most textbooks only give you the answers. That means if you dont get the answer right youre totally out of luck! Knowing youre wrong is no help at all if you dont know WHY youre wrong.

Math textbooks sit on a huge throne, like the Great and Powerful Oz and say, Nope, try again, and you do. Over and over, usually getting the problem wrong. What a delightful way to learn! (Lets not even get into why they only tell you the answers to the odd problems. Does that mean the books actual AUTHOR didnt even feel like working out the even ones?)

Fact #3: Even when math books try to show you the steps for a problem, they do a lousy job.

Math people love to skip steps. Youll be following along fine with an explanation and then all of a sudden BAM, youre lost. Youll think to yourself, How did they do that? or Where the heck did that 42 come from? It wasnt there in the last step!

Why do math textbooks insist that in order to work out a problem on page 200, youd better know pages 1 through 199 like the back of your hand? You dont want to spend the rest of your life on homework! You just want to know when youre supposed to use the law of sines and when youre supposed to use the law of cosines, which youll learn in .

Fact #4: Reading lists of facts is fun for a while, but then it gets old. Enough with this listlets cut to the chase.

Just about every single kind of trigonometry problem you could possibly run into is in here. After all, this book is HUMONGOUS! If 750 problems arent enough, then youve got some kind of crazy math hunger, my friend, and Id seek professional help.

This practice book was good at first, but to make it GREAT, I went through and worked out all the problems and took notes in the margins when I thought something was confusing or needed a little more explanation. I also drew little skulls next to the hardest problems, so youd know not to freak out if they were too challenging. After all, if youre working on a problem and youre totally stumped, isnt it better to know that the problem is SUPPOSED to be hard? Its reassuring, at least for me.

All of my notes are off to the side like this and point to the parts of the book Im trying to explain.

I think youll be pleasantly surprised by how detailed the answer explanations are, and I hope youll find my little notes helpful along the way. Call me crazy, but I think that people who WANT to learn trigonometry and are willing to spend the time drilling their way through practice problems should actually be able to figure the problems out and learn as they go, but thats just my 2.

Good luck and make sure to come visit my website at www.calculus-help.com. If you feel so inclined, drop me an e-mail and give me your 2. (Not literally, thoughreal pennies clog up the internet pipes.)

Mike Kelley

Special thanks to Alpha Books, who continue to support The Humongous Books, even as the publishing industry redefines itself in an era of electronic books. The first Humongous Book was released in 2006, and a mere six years later, the series is six books strong!

Thanks to Lisa Kelley and Dave Herzog, who have tirelessly worked for nearly a year to proofread, edit, and check all of these problems as I developed them.