Have you found it helpful knowing Trig. Values?

[UMICHPremed]

Hey, I'm contemplating memorizing the trig. values for common angles (i.e. 30, 60, 45), and I am wondering if you feel like it is worth it?

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[PltEnthusiast]

I never forgot them since middle school

I think it is easier and faster if you remember them but I usually see them given in the passages. So, it is a gamble!

 

[UMICHPremed]

Haha nice, I only remember 0 and 90 for cos, sine, and tan because they are intuitive. I just can't stand the thought of possibly missing physical sciences questions because I don't know the trig values. I think I will do it.

 

[PltEnthusiast]

It's easy... try this
0 30 45 60 90
Sine 0 sqrt1/2 sqrt2/2 sqrt3/2 sqrt 4/2
Cos start from the end of sine
Tan Divide Sine/Cosine

sqrt2/2 = 1/sqrt 2
sqrt4/2 = 1

Enjoy!

 

[Geekchick921]

Someone posted a trick for this in the math tips thread, and I wrote it down on test day (though I don't think I actually had to reference it). I think it was BerkReviewTeach or another test prep instructor that posted here in the past.

Make a little chart with three columns. The first will be common angles, the second will be sine, and the third will be cosine.

In the first column put 30, 45, 60 and 90. In the second two columns, put " /2" for each of the angles. For the sines, go down the column and, for the numerator, fill in √1, √2, √3, √4. For cosines, fill in √4, √3, √2, √1. You should definitely know, if you don't already, that √2 is approximately 1.4, and the √3 is approximately 1.7. Like this:

30 √1/2 √4/2
45 √2/2 √3/2
60 √3/2 √2/2
90 √4/2 √1/2

 

[Mzeep]

My awesome physics tutor!

√2 = 1.4 (Valentine's Day 2/14)
√3 = 1.7 (St. Patrick's Day 3/17)

Too bad it doesn't work for the rest haha

 

[ACSheldor]

My easy way of remembering.

Cos 30 = .87 Sin 30 = .5 ; for cos and sin of 60 just reverse the values for cos and sin of 30, so cos 60 = .5 and sin 60 = .87

cos and sin of 45 = .7

cos 0 is 1 sin 0 is 0 and for 90 reverse the values for sin and cos of 0

I've never come across a situation where I had to calculate the value of tan of anything, just know the relationship is sin/cos.
That's really all you have to know for the MCAT. Anything more is given from what I've seen.

 

[UMICHPremed]

Thanks a lot guys!