Super relatable. I have a total memory hole in my mind about what was “taught” of trigonometry back in my high school years. I know it was part of some of the math classes, but it was one of the many things I completely dismissed for being “useless” since it was 100% abstract.
Fast forward some 13 years and I see a video explaining how 3D graphics work. Lo and behold, it’s trigonometry from top to bottom! Plus, when computers were much weaker, the trick was to use lookup tables with the 360 values of sin and cosin instead of calculating in real time, which is what John Carmack did in Doom.
I won’t say I’d have remembered the classes better if the teachers had showed at least one fucking real life use (like measuring tall buildings based on their shadow or trying to guess a star’s distance), or if any of them knew how it could apply to programming polygons, but being aware of “real world use” helps me a lot in not completely dismissing certain things.
Super relatable. I have a total memory hole in my mind about what was “taught” of trigonometry back in my high school years. I know it was part of some of the math classes, but it was one of the many things I completely dismissed for being “useless” since it was 100% abstract.
Fast forward some 13 years and I see a video explaining how 3D graphics work. Lo and behold, it’s trigonometry from top to bottom! Plus, when computers were much weaker, the trick was to use lookup tables with the 360 values of sin and cosin instead of calculating in real time, which is what John Carmack did in Doom.
I won’t say I’d have remembered the classes better if the teachers had showed at least one fucking real life use (like measuring tall buildings based on their shadow or trying to guess a star’s distance), or if any of them knew how it could apply to programming polygons, but being aware of “real world use” helps me a lot in not completely dismissing certain things.