Trigonometry, like many areas of Maths and Science, was founded by an Ancient Greek mathematician. Developing knowledge and understanding of the world around them was incredibly important to the Greeks. In fact, the word “mathematics” derives from the ancient Greek word “mathema” which means “subject of instruction”. You may have heard of many famous Greek mathematicians, such as Thales, Pythagoras, Archimedes, Hipparchus and Euclid!
But do you know these fun facts? Apparently the word idiot originates in Ancient Greece. An idiot was a person who did not participate in public or political arenas! In other words, someone who only deals with his personal affairs and is not interested in the political affairs of his country. The Greeks can also claim to have introduced the concept of rolling out the red carpet. This first appeared in the play Agamemnon in the 5th Century B.C. “A crimson path” is introduced that can only be walked upon by the Gods! They also invented the theatre, with some big enough to hold up to 15, 000 people. Only males were allowed to act, and to show audiences whether they were happy or sad they wore masks!
GCSE scientists – if you need help using trigonometry, try our new guide “How to work with Trigonometry”. It includes an explanation of how to find lengths of missing sides, or the size of a missing angle. As always it includes questions to try, and answers to check your understanding.
If you found this useful and think you would benefit from some additional help, please contact us.
