Make: Trigonometry
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Trigonometry has 2000-year-old roots...
In everyday useful endeavors, like finding the size of an object too big or too far away to measure directly, or navigating from Point A to Point B. However, it is often taught very theoretically, with an emphasis on abstractions. Make: Trigonometry builds on the basics of the authors' earlier book, Make: Geometry, and is intended as a bridge from that book to their Make: Calculus book.
3D Printable Models
The user can read this book and understand the concepts from the photographs of 3D printable models alone. However, since many models are puzzle-like, we encourage the reader to print the models on any consumer-grade filament based 3D printer. The models are available for download in a freely-available open source repository. They were created in the free program OpenSCAD, and can be 3D printed or modified by the student in OpenSCAD to learn a little coding along the way.Using 3D printable models and readily-available physical objects like wire and cardboard tubes, you'll learn to develop intuition about concepts in trigonometry and basic analytic geometry. You'll will imagine the thought process of the people who invented these mathematical concepts, and can try out "math experiments" to see for yourself how ingenious ancient navigators and surveyors really were.
The analytic geometry part of the book links equations to many of these intuitive concepts, which we explore through in-depth explanations of manipulative models of conic sections. This book is good for high school students who might be in Algebra II or Pre-Calculus, or equivalent. It shows the geometrical and practical sides of these topics that otherwise can drown in their own algebra.
A note about the EPub file for screenreader users: The Make: Trigonometry epub3 digital download that comes as part of this package (along with a PDF version) is intended for use with screen readers that can read math, such as the Thorium epub reader.
After you have the book open in the latest version of Thorium, check the Thorium documentation to learn how to turn on MathJax functionality, which in turn reads the MathML in the epub. These settings are only available after you have opened at least one book in Thorium. Additionally, you may need to right-click on an equation, check the menu that appears, and experiment with the MathML settings in that menu to make them compatible with your screenreader.
And if you are using a separate screen reader program to interface with Thorium, you might need to add a plugin for it to be able to read MathML correctly.
About the Authors:
Joan Horvath and Rich “Whosawhatsis” Cameron are the founders of Nonscriptum LLC, a consulting and training firm founded in 2015 in based in Pasadena, California. Joan and Rich focus on teaching educators and scientists how to use maker tech, together they have authored ten books for Make: and other publishers, as well as numerous courses for LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com). Joan is an MIT alumna, recovering rocket scientist and educator, and Rich is an open-source 3D printer hacker who designed the RepRap Wallace and Bukito 3D printers.