Math Memory

[netmouse]

A friend's post reminded me how it can be hard to remember math definitions, and of one of my favorites to remember.

--Did you ever learn the soh-cah-toa mnemonic?

My math teacher once walked into the room with a bucket of water, took her shoe and sock off, dipped her toe into the water and gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. We all stared at her until she explained that this is an important geometry mnemonic - soak a toe (ah!)

Soh --Sine (Opposite over Hypotenuse)
Cah --Cosine (adjacent over Hypotenuse)
Toa --Tangent (opposite over adjacent)

(if this is unfamiliar, see the pretty picture and explanation)

Comments

[sorcycat.livejournal.com]

I never learned that one, but I recall one from calculus.

Hodehi minus hideho over hoho

This is a mnemonic
for the Quotient Rule. Though I must admit I remembered the mnemonic but I had to look up what it was for. :)

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

oh yeah.... we learned that one too, but I had forgotten it.

[metalfatigue]

If I tried to use that mnemonic, I'd always wind up swapping hideho and hodehi. I was taught the trickle-down rule: the thing on top gets differentiated first.