Trigonometry 2001st Edition

I rarely compose reviews even if I happen to really appreciate a book. But THIS is one of those rare exceptions!Gelfand (who also happens to rank among the 20th Century's most renowned and prolific Mathematicians ... I noticed that no reviewer has mentioned this little fact) has written an exceptionally clear and concise, easy to read and to digest text concerning Trigonometry with advancement to higher education in mind. The perfectly logical format and development is novel, very inspiring, coaxing the reader to read on and on and one truly begins to learn right from the first sentence. The reader requires little in the way of prior knowledge and yet, I am convinced, will come away with an enthusiasm for this subject (and hopefully for Mathematics in general).I am a member of a Mathematical Honor Society and of the Mathematical Association of America but I must confess that I was a poor math student, had some very poor teachers and, thanks to some inspiring individuals along the way, managed to discover the real magic and beauty of Math before it was too late (although I have spent the better portion of my professional life compensating for the failures of my former teachers!).This text represents the way Math should be taught in schools. I believe that any frustrated math student will benefit from this text (and probably the other texts also by Gelfand).

I'm an adult learner and I've grappled with this book for a little while. It's not laid out like textbooks that I'm used to which has taken me a while to adapt to. There is no solution manual to go with its dense thicket of problems so you'll have to find outside resources to verify your work. It's easy to get frustrated with the book when rushing through a section but when I go back and sit down and really try to understand what the author is saying and solve each problem that's put in front of me I invariably am led to some insight I wouldn't have had before. Unlike other resources which give you a wall of identities or a bag of tricks to solve problems, with this book I'm learning how to derive the identities, understand why they work, and solve problems I've never seen before since I'm getting insight into the "why" and not just the "how." Before I learned to slow down and absorb the book I felt differently but I absolutely love this book. If you want to understand Trig at a deeper level I can't recommend this book enough.

Finally - a trig book that doesn't talk down to students. Gelfand treats his readers as intellegent, curious, and competent. This goes far ... especially with kids.Most other trig books are written by educational consultants who view the subject as a odorous swamp that you have to slog through. They distract the reader with glitzy graphics and useless photos. No such chartjunk here. It's from someone who loves the subject, and places the mathematics first.I feel like an avuncular mathematician is showing me the delights of trig ... indeed, he seems to revel in sines, cosines, and tangents. Several of the problems have tickled my 10 year old son: "Dad! Did you know that the area under the first half of the sine curve is exactly 2?"Aaah. Now *that's* a great trig book!

Edges of pages eaten up but it doesn't affect the contents of the book

I also bought this book because of the good reviews. And, after the Chapter 0, I thought the book was going to be good. But, the book is not a good book at all for people trying to teach themselves trigonometry. The book doesn't provider any answers to the exercise questions, so you have no way to gauge whether or not you're getting the problems correct or even understanding the material. Also, the authors do not always provide in-depth explanation of the theorems or logic rules. However, the reader is supposed to be able to apply the theorem to the exercises.As a person who tries to teach himself math, statistics, and other technical subjects, I understand how difficult it is and how long it can take to do the work. When you are teaching yourself, you are not relying on anyone to help you work through a problem. You have to figure it out yourself. However, this book does not provide any reassurance that you are on target and understanding the material. I regret buying this book, and I advise anyone who is thinking of buying this book to buy a different one. Buy a book that goes into detail about each theorem and one that provides answers to exercises.

I enjoyed this textbook, especially the way some subjects were so well explained. Not only does this text cover a good bit of material, but it also reveals the way in which the author thinks about this subject. I have noticed, both with this text and the previous two which I have commented on, that certain aspects of the subject become much more transparent or understandable when reexamined with a keener mathematical ability than, at least I possessed, when I was first exposed to these subjects in high school. I had no special interest in math at that time. The limited reexposure one has to trigonomety and geometry as one learns new areas of mathematics in college doesn't seem to do justice to these foundation areas of math.

Best resource in text form I’ve found for really working through any topic related to the field of Trigonometry… from the basics all the way to complicated identities and their origins.The book is written in a way that’s really easy to follow along with, where the pages aren’t cluttered and too busy with content. Most Math texts are horribly constructed (leaving a lot of people to learn through videos for most things related to Math nowadays). This book is very nicely and logically put together though.