Math Is Fun Forum

circlemaker

Member

Registered: 2011-04-03

Posts: 20

Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Hi, I'm a bit embarrassed to post this.  Despite having a huge interest in math and a fair understanding of the basics, I'm sorely uneducated when it comes to conventional terminology.  I've taught myself just about all the math I know using calculators and 3d modeling programs.  In fact, I'm less educated in conventional math than most high school graduates because I was homeschooled and didn't have a proper math teacher.  As a result I've rediscovered some things on my own but I may call them by different names.

Now I created this geometric calculator (perspectiveinfinity.com/rg.html) to help teach myself (and others) a deeper understanding of math, but some of my terminology may not make sense to conventionally educated people.  For example, "sine flip" is a term I coined because I didn't know what else to call it when you swap sine and cosine.  Even an internet search didn't turn up an official definition for such a function, which surprises me considering the simplicity of it.  The answers are probably there, but I'm asking here instead because frankly, I'm tired of searching and would enjoy a bit more human interaction.

So what I'm asking for is a little help merging my terminology with yours.  Symbiosis.

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Hi;

I do not like jargon either. The so called 'jargonauts" make me want to dismember somebody.

To flip sine to cosine ( cosine flip? ) just add π / 2 to the argument of sine.

To flip cosine to sine ( sine flip? ) just subtract π / 2 from the argument of sine.

I know you know that so call it a translation.

I knew a guy prefaced everything with "Let g be a group," another guy, "Let G be a metric." When one of these types threw this at me

I blew up and told him to turn that A  back upright where it belongs. I mean A is a matrix full of numbers if you write it upside down like that all the numbers are gonna leak out all over the page.

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In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

gAr

Member

Registered: 2011-01-09

Posts: 3,482

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Hi circlemaker,

You write cool programs!
Have you tried anything on html5?

I too dislike jargons! Can't remember most of it.
It's like a song without the title!

Last edited by gAr (2011-08-16 05:12:10)

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"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense"  - Buddha?

"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."

circlemaker

Member

Registered: 2011-04-03

Posts: 20

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

All those seemingly arbitrary symbols and techno-babble is what turns me off from the more traditional approaches to learning math.  I tend to think in shapes, not in words and made up symbols that are used to represent ideas.  However, despite this I've been making an effort to learn what they all mean anyway.

bobbym: On my program I have tangent, sine, and cosine displayed along with other values.  The "sine flip" button swaps the values for sine and cosine, and inverts (1/n) tangent all at the same time.  Pretty simple right?  So what I'm wondering if there's perhaps a more common way of describing this operation?

Here's another question: Right now I'm describing "fractional roots" as this sequence: √1/2, √2/3, √3/4, √4/5... all the way to √∞/∞, along with their reciprocals: √2/1, √3/2, √4/3, √5/4... √∞/∞.  Such a sequence must have already been in use for a while and have a common name, but what is it?

gAr: Thanks.  My geometric calc is done in html5 canvas actually.  I used to write most apps in flash until a year or so ago.  I'm a graphic designer turned programmer.  Art and math go nicely together.

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Hi;

Your flipping as you call it:

Inverting or flipping the tan(x) will give you cot(x) ( cotangent(x) )

For the other question are those square roots of those fractions.

---

In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

circlemaker

Member

Registered: 2011-04-03

Posts: 20

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Hmm, so there isn't a single word or short phrase that could sum up a sine flip?  Would inverse tangent make more sense?

And yes my other question implies squaring, so the sequence goes from 0.707 to 1.414.  "Square rooted fractions of the natural numbers" is the most condensed explanation I've got.

George,Y

Member

Registered: 2006-03-12

Posts: 1,379

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Try the book

Encyclopedia of Trigonometry

by Andrew Barnes

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X'(y-Xβ)=0

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Hi circlemaker;

Do not confuse notation with jargon. Notation is vital to math. Also remember I was just kidding with what I wrote up there.

I would express what you done there in terms of a sequence and is written like this.

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In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

gAr

Member

Registered: 2011-01-09

Posts: 3,482

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Hi circlemaker,

Okay. I saw a js file there. So I thought you used only javascript.

Would inverse tangent make more sense?

Inverse tangent is different. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_tr … _functions

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"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense"  - Buddha?

"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,711

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

But "Sine Flip" could mean 1/sin (=cosecant) or the sine function translated 180° (= -sine), or even inverse sine (= sin[sup]-1[/sup]).

You may enjoy my Trig pages: http://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/trigonometry-index.html

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

circlemaker

Member

Registered: 2011-04-03

Posts: 20

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Thanks MathIsFun.  I've been using that resource frequently (I had come across it before on a search) but there's still so much to burn into my memory.

I think all these different uses of the word "inverse" have been throwing me off.  My first thought when I hear "inverse" is 1/something because that's the first way I learned it.  So invtan is the same thing as arctan?  Bloody hell...

Ok, so perhaps I should go with "sine/cosine swap" or even the more explicit "1/tan" to differentiate from tan-¹?  Sine flip is definitely out (even though I think it sounds catchy).

bobbyn: Thanks for the notation.  How is that text generated?  Is there a tool on this site?

You guys may or may not find it interesting that the only trig function I use in my program is arccosine, and only because I haven't yet found another way to obtain the angle.  I'm not using the unit circle or translating back and forth between radians and real numbers.  It's just basic addition, multiplication, and squaring.  Knowledge of pi isn't even required, except to use arcos of course.

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: Help with terminology for a math program I'm writing

Hi;

I use an online editor:

http://latex.codecogs.com/editor.php

Then you just copy from that page and put it between the math tags.

You will get this:

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In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.