TRIGONOMETRIC EQUATIONS

The theories of the Pythagoreans (the philosophical school of Pythagorus and his followers) in the late sixth century B.C. taught that, in its essence, everything is a number, and that all relationships can be expressed arithmetically. They believed that, using mathematical ideas, everything could be predicted and measured in rhythmic patterns or cycles. The reduction of angular measure to a triad of fractions using the sides of right triangles was just one of the achievements which underscored their philosophical beliefs.

However, if Pythagorus could have envisioned the truly rhythmic and cyclical waves which the sine and cosine functions etch out on the Cartesian plane when the radian angular measure of Roger Cotes is used, he could not have failed to have been impressed by the profoundness of that prediction. Their discoveries about triangles and the ensuing implications of triangular measure have today become encapsulated into the study of Trigonometry.

Last Updated by SAS October 07, 2026, 16:01:00