ERIC Number: EJ1229323
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Oct
Pages: 2
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Solving Some "Calculus-Based" Physics Problems with Trigonometry
Baum, Dave
Physics Teacher, v57 n7 p470-471 Oct 2019
College physics textbooks (algebra based) tend to shy away from topics that are usually thought to require calculus. I suspect that most students are just as happy to avoid these topics. Occasionally, I encounter students who are not so easily satisfied, and have found it useful to maintain a storehouse of non-calculus solutions for some common problems. One such type of problem is finding maximums and minimums of functions. A number of authors have presented solutions using, among other techniques, inequalities, geometry, finding the apex of a parabola, or forcing the discriminant of a quadratic equation to be zero; here, I discuss several examples of finding maximums and minimums using trigonometry instead of calculus.
Descriptors: Physics, Science Instruction, Calculus, Trigonometry, Problem Solving, Interdisciplinary Approach, College Science
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://aapt.scitation.org/journal/pte
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A