A radian is simply an angle measurement of a circle, just like degrees. A full revolution of the unit circle is equal to 2π radians, or 360°. the formula for the circumference of the unit circle (or any circle) is 2πr. This makes sense because 2π is the circle itself, and the r (radius) would tell you how big or small the circle is; the bigger the radius, the bigger the circumference of the circle , and vise versa. Degrees and radians are interchangeable, you just need to be able to convert the 2 back and forth. To go from degrees to radians, take your angle measure and multiply it by (π/180). To go from radians to degrees, take your angle measure, which should be a fraction including π since you're in radians, and multiply it by (180/π). The π's in each fraction will cancel out. I prefer degrees because we all went through school learning in degrees rather than in radians, but radians seem more accurate because of its connection to the unit circle. Thanks for reading.
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AuthorI'm Julian Moses. this is my blog for Precalc. with Mr. Cresswell. Archives
March 2016
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