Importance of “boring” Trigonometry

Everything around us can be measured. math. The list of areas of knowledge where measurements are used is practically endless: urbanism, astronomy, architecture, agriculture, topography, geography... these and many other disciplines need a mathematical tool, trigonometry. Far from being considered boring, it is an exciting field when one decides to get involved.

The word trigonometry comes from the Greek and is made up of the word trigono, which means triangle, and meter, which means measure. Apart from the etymological question, this branch of mathematics focuses on the study of the angles and sides that form triangles. However, directly or indirectly, trigonometry is related to other branches of mathematics, especially geometry. In this sense, triangulation techniques are used in astronomical measurements, in navigation systems or in terrestrial measurements.

In other words, the triangles are projected over the skies, the seas and the Earth itself.

The history of trigonometry began more than 3,000 years ago.

The Babylonians and Egyptians already had precise knowledge about the angles of triangles and thanks to Thus, they were able to build the pyramids and establish measurements on the flooded lands after the floods of the Nile.

It is said that Thales of Miletus once measured the height of a pyramid using only a small rod and the shadow of the pyramid cast on the ground. To make this measurement he had to handle trigonometric concepts.

With the Pythagorean theorem, it was possible to specify precisely the relationship between the sides and the hypotenuse of a triangle. Advances in this area of ​​mathematics expanded thanks to Arab scholars beginning in the 10th century, as they They were the ones who defined the trigonometric functions of angles (sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant, and secant). cosecant).

Knowing the universe through triangles

The basic concepts of trigonometry were initially applied to the study of stars and constellations. The sages of the ancient world observed that the lines joining the Earth, the Sun and the Moon form a triangle. Parallax techniques were used to measure the distances between the stars.

Parallax is the apparent change in position of something based on the observation from different points of view.

In the stellar parallax, the angles formed by the stars and planets are measured and these calculations allow us to know data about the different distances. From the calculations of elementary trigonometry it is possible to determine the distance between the Earth and any star.

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