Trigonometry
Trigonometry is an official VSMW, or Very Scary Math Word, and indeed
trigonometry can get pretty complicated. Luckily, the SAT is going to test you on
the basics. The first step is to get comfortable with one very uncomfortable
word: SOHCAHTOA.
What is that? An ancient Gaelic curse? A new celebrity baby name? Well yes,
it is both those things, but it is also an acronym for:
Get it? SOHCAHTOA. (Soh-kah-TOW-ah.) Say it ten times, and you will
never forget it.
Here’s how it works.
In any right triangle, SOHCAHTOA allows us to say things about the
relationships between one of the non–right angles and the sides of that triangle.
In the above triangle, , or ^5 / 13 . Try this SAT-style problem:
In the triangle below, if tan θ = ¾, what is sin θ?