Saturday, July 3, 2010

Yes, You Will Use Trigonometry in Real Life

My students are always asking, "When are we going to use this in real life?" Because I have heard this question 10,000 times, I take special delight when I actually do need my math to solve some problem. So I was especially delighted when my wonderful, intelligent, extremely handy husband came downstairs just now, let out a big sigh, and slapped this paper and my calculator down in front of me.
He says, "I can't, for the life of me remember how to solve for these angles. I know I use SOHCAHTOA, but I don't remember how to set it up!"

How fun! So I got to solve a trig problem this afternoon to help Michael Paul cut the railing he is building upstairs.

Yeah so in case you haven't heard, we are fixing some things on our house because we will be putting it on the market soon because we will be moving to North Carolina! We can't wait to live in the mountains! More on that in a later post ... stay tuned.
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2 comments:

  1. SummerJuly 4, 2010 at 1:13 PM

    Congrats to MP on his new job!

    And I would never use trig in real life. I would get someone else to do it, just like he did :O)

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  2. Sharon TachenkoJuly 6, 2010 at 10:58 AM

    Ditto, Summer! Proud that Michael Paul tried and even knew, in principle, what he needed - just couldn't remember. Mercy. . . how DOES one remember such essentials for that once in a life-time event requirement! Frankly, my dear, "if you don't use it you lose it!" I'm proud he has you, Jennifer. . . two heads are definitely better than one! Likely, there will be times he will "bring something to the table" you've lost :D That's the collaborative team benefit!

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