Learn or Review Trigonometry: Essential Skills

WHAT TO EXPECT: This book reviews essential trigonometry concepts, ideas, and skills. Topics include the basic trig functions, special angles, the reference angle, the unit circle, going beyond Quadrant I, inverse trig functions, and radians. A few chapters are intended to help students memorize the trig functions of common angles like 30, 150, or 315 degrees, which will be especially useful for students who may take exams without a calculator (that’s the case with the MCAT and many math and science courses). Each chapter works out examples with step-by-step solutions and explanations. Problems at the end of each chapter offer practice carrying out the techniques. The answer to every exercise can be found at the back of the book.

CONTENTS: This book is conveniently divided up into 9 chapters so that students can focus on one trigonometry skill at a time. Skills include the following:

• review of the Pythagorean theorem and relevant properties of triangles;
• understanding sine, cosine, and tangent;
• special angles and special triangles;
• working with the reference angle;
• using the unit circle;
• working in Quadrants II-IV;
• finding secant, cosecant, and cotangent;
• finding inverse trig functions;
• and converting between degrees and radians.

AUTHOR: Chris McMullen earned his Ph.D. in physics from Oklahoma State University and currently teaches physics at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He developed the Step-by-Step and Improve Your Math Fluency series of workbooks to help students become more fluent in basic math skills.

ANSWERS: Answers to exercises are tabulated at the back of the book. This helps students develop confidence and ensures that students practice correct techniques, rather than practice making mistakes.

PHOTOCOPIES: The copyright notice permits parents/teachers who purchase one copy or borrow one copy from a library to make photocopies for their own children/students only. This is very convenient if you have multiple children/students or if a child/student needs additional practice. The large print naturally lends itself to overhead transparencies or classroom document cameras for projecting pages onto an overhead display or projector.

Chris McMullen is a physics instructor at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He earned his Ph.D. in phenomenological high-energy physics (particle physics) from Oklahoma State University in 2002. Originally from California, he earned his Master's degree from California State University, Northridge, where his thesis was in the field of electron spin resonance. As a physics teacher, Dr. McMullen observed that many students lack fluency in fundamental math skills. In an effort to help students of all ages and levels master basic math skills, he has published this Improve Your Math Fluency Series of math workbooks on arithmetic, fractions, algebra, and trigonometry.