Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

In my Trigonometric Applications class last Thursday I gave them the angle of elevation and angle of depression measurement for the height of an object or the depth of a lower position by use of the protractor with a weighted string attached.

Unfortunately since we are already behind the other classes I had to give this to them as an assignment instead of as a class period activity. In fact some of the students who were either my students in the same subject last term or had seen the other sections perform the activity with the teacher around asked if we could not do it right then and there. Unfortunately I had to turn them down because we really had to catch up on the other classes.

Unlike the other classes though, who were asked to get the height of the building and the height of the founder’s statue and the depth to the ground from all the floors of the building, I only asked for two heights and two depths: the height of the building and the height of the lightning rod in the football field and the depth to the quadrangle from the second and the third floor.

Since this is an assignment, I told them that it was due during our session on October 18.

After that I discussed the trigonometric functions of angles greater than 90 degrees and of negative angles, and how, since the values of x and y (or the opposite and adjacent sides of their triangle) would have negative values depending on the quadrant the terminal side is now in, then some of the trigonometric functions would also have negative values.

I also taught them about the reference or equivalent acute angle that has the same numeric value in trigonometric functions (even if sometimes it is opposite in sign) as those in the other quadrants. I also taught them the “butterfly” for determining how to compute for the reference acute angle.

Now in retrospect I’m thinking maybe I should have taught them about getting the reference angle from the x and y values of similar points that are along terminal side of the original angle and its equivalent.

I also reminded them about the fifty-point quiz on Thursday for which our current discussion is part of the coverage.

I returned their exams to them, at least for those who still kept their group envelopes in the faculty room. For those who did not have their envelopes with them, they had to buy a new one just to see their papers (since one of the members brought them home), but I told them that the purpose of the group envelopes is to train them to keep all their class requirements in one place since they still need it until the end of the term, when they would have a hand in computing their pre-final grade come the thirteenth week of the term. Therefore I told the group that the day after they should have consolidated all their test papers in one envelope and placed it in the faculty room along with those of their classmates.

Thursday’s mechanics class, Friday’s Mathematical Methods 1 class, yesterday’s MM1, Trig App and mechanics classes and today’s MM1 class will have to wait until tomorrow.

Class dismissed for today.