B What do Sine, Cosine and Tangent do?

Liam C
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When I press these buttons on my calculator to find the third side or an angle in a triangle, what calculation is happening? What is the logic behind it all?
I know it's a very basic question, but I am only in grade 10 and have not started Math yet this year.
 
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Liam C said:
When I press these buttons on my calculator to find the third side or an angle in a triangle, what calculation is happening? What is the logic behind it all?
I know it's a very basic question, but I am only in grade 10 and have not started Math yet this year.
Inside the calculator there is probably an algorithm going on, that numerically approximates the questioned values.
One could e.g. use the formulas described on this Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine#Series_definition
It contains a section about algorithms and further links, too.
 
fresh_42 said:
Inside the calculator there is probably an algorithm going on, that numerically approximates the questioned values.
One could e.g. use the formulas described on this Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine#Series_definition
It contains a section about algorithms and further links, too.
Thanks, should have thought to check the wiki page myself! :DD
 
fresh_42 said:
Inside the calculator there is probably an algorithm going on, that numerically approximates the questioned values.
See CORDIC, an algorithm that is in widespread use in calculators.
 

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