MHB How can you express an angle in radians without using pi/180°?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mathdad
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Degrees Radians
Click For Summary
To express the angle of 12 degrees and 28 minutes in radians without using pi/180°, the conversion involves recognizing that 1 minute equals 1/60 of a degree. The calculation shows that 12° 28' can be converted to degrees as 12 + 28/60, resulting in 187/15 degrees. This value can then be expressed in radians as (187/15) * (pi/180), simplifying to 187pi/2700. An alternative method for conversion exists, but the primary approach is valid and effective.
mathdad
Messages
1,280
Reaction score
0
Express the following angle in radians.

12 degrees, 28 minutes, that is, 12° 28'.

I cannot apply pi/180° to this problem.
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
You could write:

$$12^{\circ}+28'\cdot\frac{1^{\circ}}{60'}=\frac{187}{15}^{\circ}\cdot\frac{\pi}{180^{\circ}}=\frac{187\pi}{2700}$$
 
MarkFL said:
You could write:

$$12^{\circ}+28'\cdot\frac{1^{\circ}}{60'}=\frac{187}{15}^{\circ}\cdot\frac{\pi}{180^{\circ}}=\frac{187\pi}{2700}$$

Where did (1/60°) and (187°)/15 come from?
 
RTCNTC said:
Where did (1/60°) and (187°)/15 come from?

$$\frac{1^{\circ}}{60'}$$ is a fraction equal to 1 used to convert from minutes to degrees. And then:

$$12+\frac{28}{60}=\frac{187}{15}$$

And this is in degrees.
 
There is another way to do this but it's ok.
 
I have been insisting to my statistics students that for probabilities, the rule is the number of significant figures is the number of digits past the leading zeros or leading nines. For example to give 4 significant figures for a probability: 0.000001234 and 0.99999991234 are the correct number of decimal places. That way the complementary probability can also be given to the same significant figures ( 0.999998766 and 0.00000008766 respectively). More generally if you have a value that...

Similar threads

  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
4K
Replies
8
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
1K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
7K