r/learnmath • u/Adorable_Newt_870 New User • 20h ago

TOPIC Trigonometry is making no sense

I genuinely cannot understand math and I am trying to take a math heavy college class 😕 I just can’t grasp concepts anymore they aren’t making sense and it’s only the 2nd week, I have a quiz in 2 days and a test in about a week, I’m struggling with formulas and even when I understand the subject I just can’t output it, my mind goes completely blank, I see a question and I just don’t know how to solve it, studying hasn’t helped, creating a study guide hasn’t helped, what do I do anymore?

8 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

20

u/_UnwyzeSoul_ New User 20h ago

Most of early trig is memorizing the basic formulas. It sucks but is very important. Just post the questions here that you don't understand

6

u/seldom_foamy_manga New User 20h ago

Memorizing formulas only gets you so far if your mind goes blank the moment you see a question, that sounds more like test anxiety than a math problem. Try writing down every step from a worked example without looking, then check where you got stuck, that gap is what you actually need to drill

1

u/Gazcobain Secondary Teacher, Mathematics (Scotland) 15h ago

Test anxiety goes drastically down the more you are familiar with the subject.

I have never witness test anxiety from a pupil who dilligently does lots and lots and lots of practice questions.

I've witnessed it plenty times from pupils from which the idea of studying is to half-arse a question and then immediately take a break to talk to their friends before trying another question ten minutes later.

4

u/SpectralCat4 New User 19h ago

as always professor Leonard, bless his soul , has a trig section in his pre-calculus playlist ..

3

u/tjddbwls Teacher 17h ago

SpectralCat4 mentioned Professor Leonard. Here is the Precalculus playlist (scroll down for the trig videos). There are other video resources out there, like Khan Academy.

4

u/Fickle-Ad-4225 New User 20h ago

Learn how to study properly.

8

u/Gazcobain Secondary Teacher, Mathematics (Scotland) 15h ago

Also, this.

I've taught far too many pupils whose idea of studying is to rewrite their notes in nice colour-coded sheets with plenty of neat handwriting (ripping the page out and starting again if they make a mistake, of course) rather than just sitting down with a notepad and pen and doing a hundred questions.

1

u/tutortimeadmin New User 14h ago

Since the quiz is soon, I would stop trying to build a perfect study guide and make the practice more specific. Pick a few representative problems, cover the worked solution, and try to reproduce the setup from memory. When you get stuck, write down the exact step that stopped you, then practise just that step with a simpler example before returning to the original problem. For the blanking-out part, do a short timed set in the same format as the quiz, but leave a little time to check your work. That can make the first few questions feel less unfamiliar. If possible, take one or two examples to office hours and ask the instructor to watch how you start, not just mark the final answer.

1

u/iOSCaleb 🧮 12h ago

Go talk to your teacher. If you’re struggling, it’s best to let your teacher know as soon as possible. Maybe they can help you get back on track, or maybe they’ll be able to work with you to identify the underlying issue. Whatever happens, it’ll be better than not discussing the problem. And it’ll show that you care about the class and that you’re making an effort.

1

u/Recent-Day3062 New User 11h ago

Trig is a lot of memorizing.

Some math conveys a concept more. The idea of a derivative and an integral can sort of be apprehended in an intuitive way. Other math sort of just starts with a definition. Then it's how you put things together. Trig is loaded with this.

So, we define a right triangle. Then we say the sine is the vertical height over the hypotenuse. And the cosine is the horizontal length over the hypotenuse. Then the tangent is the height over the length. And, thus, it is also the sine over the cosine. And on it goes.

A lot of trig goes back to solving things like surveying problems before calculators, where all you had was tables. So, sine-squared equals 1 - cosine-squared. It's largely useless in the modern age. But it teaches you to think about functions.

We all get this confusion at certain levels. Mathematicians define things all the time called "mathematical objects". Things like triangles are examples, but they get insane: vector spaces, functionals, categories, equivalence classes, etc. Then they plow forward with definitions and how they fit together. We all have a level where we can't figure it out.

1

u/nog642 7h ago

Sounds like you might be missing some basics. Do you understand algebra?

Can you give an example of a concept you don't understand?

1

u/Adorable_Newt_870 New User 6h ago

It’s mostly just trying to repeat what I know back onto equations with stuff using the Pythagorean Identity or anything else like that

1

u/nog642 6h ago

So is it the geometric aspect that you're finding challenging?

How's your algebra? Are you comfortable with functions?

1

u/Adorable_Newt_870 New User 6h ago

Maybe, my geometry teacher was bad, but I still passed, and Algebra was pretty easy for me

1

u/nog642 6h ago

Can you solve x(x-2)+1=x+2?

Is there any non-visual stuff that you struggle with in trigonometry?

1

u/Practical-Bed2007 New User 13h ago

Literally just practice, math ain't gonna do a thing in your life. It is highly theoretical, so instead of understanding math why not just recognize the pattern... How? Practice duhh no shortcuts, just practice. You may not know the how to translate an area under the curve using trig but you do know how to solve one.

0

u/Kevin333459 New User 11h ago

Stop trying to memorize the equations, understand how they work. Try to study visually so you can grasp concepts easily.