How do you teach this topic so that students don’t make this mistake? (Or do you just rail on their earlier teachers?)
Thanks to Kristen Fouss for the submission.
Category: Trigonometric Functions
In the comments: can you reconstruct each step of the student’s argument? What was he thinking?
Thanks to Kristen Fouss for the submission.
[We have a growing library of trig identities, and I’ve got like 10 more trig identities to post over the next few weeks. Seems to be a tough spot for students.]
What’s going on here?
What’s up with the above? Say something smart in the comments about the implications of a mistake like this one. What’s another mistake that you would expect this student to make in the future? What’s a mistake that you wouldn’t expect the student to make?
Thanks to Jonathan Newman for the submission.
What’s the nature of this student’s mistake? Is it the sort of mistake that the kid would make given a linear equation to solve, or is the mistake particular to the trig context? How might you help the kiddo?