Secret Uses of the Cosine They Don't Want You to Know About 😉

The Cosine Is Coming From Inside Your PhoneA field guide for parents ambushed by the question - why should I learn trigonometry? The question arrives on schedule, somewhere between dinner and despair. The homework is open. A triangle sits on the page, radiating menace. Beside it, the words SOH CAH TOA, which sound less like mathematics and more like a small island you would visit to forget mathematics. And your child looks up with the weary dignity of a hostage negotiator and asks the ancient question - why should I learn trigonometry? When will I ever actually use this? It is a fair question, and it deserves a fair answer. So here it is - you, personally, may never solve for an unknown angle again after the final exam. You may also never churn butter, forge a horseshoe, or navigate by the stars. Modern life has a talent for outsourcing its triangles. But the question hides a magnificent irony, because the child asking it is, at that very moment, holding the single most…