degrees minutes seconds

[Rex Boggs]

From another list:
>> Am I able to put in an angle in degrees, minutes and seconds with one of
>> the trig ratios? e.g. tan(29 degrees, 54 minutes, 24 seconds)??? ....I
>> can see how to change from degrees to DMS, Any help gratefully accepted.

From the same list:
> I'm pleased to announce that problem solving skills are alive and well in my
> classroom. One of my Year 10s figured out how to input degrees, minutes and
> seconds.
> You need to access the catalog menu to input the degree value, the minute
> key is on the keypad (little round button) and you simply push this button
> twice to make the seconds.

Finally Steve Arnold piped in:
> For TI-Nspire, press CTRL-' (minutes key) to get your degrees and save yourself a trip to the
> Catalog.

So there you are.

Cheers

Rex

[Sean Bird]

I'll chime in here (weak pun intended - chime, as in a clock with minutes and seconds. While I'm meandering from the point I'm making, I'll share something that someone may want to try/implement. Back when I was teaching trig, I took the face of my classroom clock and replaced it with radians. It looks a lot like this http://home.flash.net/~fmco/pclockpic.html . This has reaped repeated benefits throughout the years in my physics & calc classes.)

My physics students use CTRL-' (apostrophe "minutes") for the degree symbol quite frequently. The mode can still be in radians and you'll get the right answer. The only thing you have to beware of is when you want your answer in degrees when using an inverse trig function. This supplies the teachable moment of converting from radians to degrees. (Growing up I would ignorantly attribute any calculator errors to being in the wrong mode, like being in radians.) This also encourages more precise communication, i.e. including the degree symbol when it is suppose to be there. The TI-Nspire already helps students not be sloppy with their parenthesis - a great improvement from the 83/84.

Peace,

Sean