[Note: This post and video are especially for trigonometry teachers. If your memory of trig isn’t that fresh, this video might not be accessible.]
From Freud to Oliver Sacks psychiatrists have pursued the idea that by studying the strangest aberrations, they’ll understand what normal is. In this video, James Stanton (a teacher who I’m sure I’ll be borrowing ideas from), gives a bizarre twist on the idea of trigonometry that… helps explain it better than ever. In fact, his squine and cosquine functions (love the names!) actually involve a trig function (though it’s not sine or cosine). This is a beautiful inspiration for lessons for a trig teacher looking for a little motivation for what can be a tricky subject to teach.
Favorite Quote: “But mathematicians like to play, and I’m a mathematician, and I love to play too, and I would like to teach my kids to play as well. What if…”
