SOHCAHTOA

Years ago, when I first taught Precalculus at the college level, I was starting a section on trigonometry by reminding my students of the acronym SOHCAHTOA for keeping the trig functions straight:

\sin \theta = \displaystyle \frac{\hbox{Opposite}}{\hbox{Hypotenuse}},

\cos \theta = \displaystyle \frac{\hbox{Adjacent}}{\hbox{Hypotenuse}},

\tan \theta = \displaystyle \frac{\hbox{Opposite}}{\hbox{Adjacent}}.

At this point, one of my students volunteered that a previous math teacher had taught her an acrostic to keep these straight: Some Old Hippie Caught Another Hippie Tripping On Acid.

Needless to say, I’ve been passing this pearl of wisdom on to my students ever since.

2 Comments
by John Quintanilla on April 25, 2016  •  Permalink
Posted in Engagement, Humor, Precalculus, Tales from the Classroom
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Posted by John Quintanilla on April 25, 2016

https://meangreenmath.com/2016/04/25/sohcahtoa/

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2 Comments

  1. howardat58

     /  April 25, 2016

    Small problem: I get “Formula does not parse” three times.

    Reply

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