So I work in a job where I have nothing to do all day and decided to pick up math on my own to pass the time. For some reason I picked up a trigonometry book and some ideas were really easy to pick up. Some were not. The graphs, cartisien coordinates and radicals are what I am having trouble understanding and having difficulty figuring what to do after learning SohCahToa and how are these functions are used.

I know my post is vague yet that is because my understanding is vague. I guess what I am asking is general advice and knowledge on what I should know to make learning this type of math easier and what would I have to do to over come my problems with what the functions are used for, the graphing and radicals.

Also any one know of a good website that generates random problems for me to solve from algebra to trig and geometry?

I thank you for your help ahead of time and appreciate what ever advice you may give me.

Also what are some good books or website you can recommend that is easy and good for beginners?

http://www.ebookee.com/

This site has free eBooks on every subject.

http://www.ebookee.com/search.php?cx=005418540955315608444%3Ahzcbi9hnswe&cof=FORID%3A11&q=trigonometry&sa=Search#1094

Here are some trig books I found on it. Just go through them until you find a simple one I guess. I don't know any specific ones.

Dude just go to the library and find all the high school trig books, you may feel like a dork if you are doing really basic stuff from like year 8 or whatever but with maths you always need to start somewhere.
After that it just comes down to practise - do every question you can, it may seem repetitive but its like training or working out, the more the fitter/stronger you will become.

Also do plenty of algebra drills. Like just basic shit, learning all the rules (ie. indicie laws, surd rules, factorising, expanding) and practising solving equations. You need sound algebraic skills for higher levels of mathematics.

As for finding maths sites, i find stumble upon : mathematics, always brings up some great stuff. Also on google videos there are some lecture recordings of more advanced mathematics when you come to it.

A more direct answer to your main question about the cartesian co-ordinates- try finding another book and thoroughly learn co-ordinate geometry, graphs of straight lines and basic functions. They are the names given to the specefic topics that help you understand the mechanics behind the cartesian number plane and how to calculate shit on it. They might not be the actual topic names in the textbooks you have but should be similar.

In conclusion though the library is definitely a great place, in Australia anyway not sure about the US or where ever you are from. Ebay can be awesome for old unwanted text books to. Don't worry about math textbooks being outdated either, this shit is hundreds of years old.

Good luck in your quest for knowledge!


Oh ps. I call radicals surds. Thats just what we get taught here its stock standard i looked it up when i re read your post sorry.

If you have any trouble with any particular examples, im sure Totse can help, so be sure to ask