The Teaching Of Trigonometry In The Secondary School

Abstract

It is my purpose in the writing of this thesis to give reasons for the teaching of trigonometry in the high school; give a short history of trigonometry and show the importance that trigonometry has played in the world; and to then go into some detail on the material to be covered in a high school trigonometry course and the methods of teaching this material. I will not work example problems for each set of formuli, but will try to have representative problems of each distinct type. Similarly, I will not prove all the identities, but will try to give the general method of proof for each class. It is presumed that a student taking this course in high school will have had one year of algebra and one year of geometry. He will need a working knowledge of such things as proportions, similar triangles, Cartesian coordinates, and solving simple equations, I will try to emphasize the practical aspects as much as possible, giving the various methods of solving triangles and showing their applications to practical problems. I will denote certain things that should be memorized for a more fluent use of the subject.