[MATHEDCC] Why radians?

Martin Kalmar (MKalmar@fcc.cc.md.us)
Mon, 01 Nov 1999 12:22:04 -0500

When students ask (not often enough) why do we need to measure angles in =
radians, I know of no other answer than it makes things very convenient in =
calculus. This is fine for my calculus students who can see what the =
derivatives of trig functions would look like without radians, but what =
other answer can I give my pre-calculus students?

Does anyone know of other good reasons for using radians?

Does anyone know the history of radian measure? Who first used it and why?

Martin Kalmar
Frederick Community College
Frederick, Md.
mkalmar@fcc.cc.md.us

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