<p>Well, simply put, one cannot improve on the math by answering questions galore since it requires knowledge. (Unless your like me and do stupid mistakes) I think this thread should state all the essential theorems, formulas, and ideas that are needed to succeed, and then be explained on how they relate (i.e. pythagorean theorem relates to area of a triangle, etc)</p>
<p>Add stuff in that you find necessary, after a good bit we can copy all the post info into one large post.</p>
<p>I will start with triangles</p>
<p>A triangle is a three-sided figure with three angles. Important facts are</p>
<p>-The total degrees in a triangle add up to 180.</p>
<p>-One leg cannot exceed or equal the sum of the two others (i.e. a 2,3,6 triangle cannot exist... think of it logically. If you have two legs the same length add up to the same as the third then it cannot be closed to make a triangle)</p>
<p>-A triangle with a 90degree angle is special and can use the pythagorean theorem to find missing sides or tangent, cosine, and sine to find missing sides using angles.</p>
<p>-A triangle's area is one-half the base times the height (Think of a square. Two triangles make a square and a squares area is base times height, therefore a triangle is one-half of that.)</p>
<p>Ways to find stuff:</p>
<p>You have a triangle</p>
<p>pythagorean theorem can be used to find another side that is unknown (given it is a right triangle), and can be further used to find area of the triangle (1/2 base times height), or to find angles with cosine, sine, and tangent (Soh-Cah-Toa [sine is opposite divided by hypotenuse--the longest side--, cosine is adjacent divided by hypotenuse, etc])</p>
<p>Special triangles:</p>
<p>90-45-45 (degrees): the ratio between the hypotenuse and the two smaller legs is the square root of two to one.</p>
<p>30-60-90: the smallest leg is one-half the biggest, and the middle leg is in the square root of three time the smallest leg.</p>
<p>Add on cause i'm sleepy</p>
<p>This should cover the following topics:</p>
<p>squares
circles
triangles
graphing
linear equations
substitution to solve equations
probability
other [i.e. the degrees for an object with n sides is 180(n-2)]</p>