A development of trigonometry

The first chapter of this project paper presents a brief review of the historical development of trigonometry in more or less chronological order. The second chapter discusses sets and ordered pairs, concepts that lie at the very root of the modern idea of functional relationships. It thus provides the setting for Chapter three which develops such essentials of trigonometry as would be useful to a high school student, starting with circular functions in terms of real numbers and ending with radian and degree measures. The complex number, forming as it does an integral element of analytic trigonometry, is introduced in Chapter four, and a consideration of series for the sine and co­sine based on the Maclaurin expansion, and their signifi­cance in the compilation of tables, concludes this brief study of trigonometry. Truly, the development of trigonometry forms a fascinating chapter in the story of the growth of mathematical ideas