Ranked #10 in Trigonometry
In a sense, trigonometry sits at the center of high school mathematics. It originates in the study of geometry when we investigate the ratios of sides in similar right triangles, or when we look at the relationship between a chord of a circle and its arc. It leads to a much deeper study of periodic functions, and of the so-called transcendental functions, which cannot be described using finite algebraic processes. It also has many applications to physics, astronomy, and other branches of science. It is a very old subject. Many of the geometric results that we now state in trigonometric terms... more