help... math's got my tongue

I'm studying for my math placement test for college (so that i can get to calc) and a few of these things seem a bit fuzzy. I need to know (either via hyperlink or post) how to grasp a few of these concepts, again. I've alredy done google searches, but i get stuff for like basic math and haven't been able to find much on the trig stuff.

College Algebra:
roots of polynomials

Trigonometry:
csc (both regular and squared)
sec (both regular and squared)
cot (both regular and squared)
and how to square sin, cos, and tan on a scientific calculator.

also, if somone could point me in the direction of an exact values chart for angles (multiples of 30 & 45 deg" that would be sweet.

thanks in advance
-=[the]Punisher=-

do you know the unit circle? If so, that would help alot..


i dont understand, why can't you square them, just do ^2 ? (make sure they are in parentheses) and the square is outside of them

roots of polynomials is easy, sorry didn't see this earlier. Just find the zeros. Put the equation in your graph, graph it, and see where it crosses the x axis. those are your roots, or zeros. you really need to write out some equations, because roots of polynomials can mean several things.

i know the unit circle yeah. and I cant just plug it into the graph b/c they only allow nonprogrammable, nongraphing calcs. I have to use a scientific calc (TI-34). thanks for the start.

-=[the]Punisher=-

I might learn something from this.. I seem to have forgotten what a polynomial is... Can someone help me out? I am going into HS Algebra 2, but I have learned enough outside of class I will be ahead of everyone else...

well i didn't make it into calculus, just college algebra, which sucks. thanks for the help!

To find the roots of a polynomial, you have to factor it. ie, change x^2 + x - 6, into (x-2)(x+3), where the roots are +2 and -3.

For Trig, remember the egyptian name SOH CAH TOA. In other words Sin Opposite Hypotenuse, Cosine Adjacent Hypotenuse, Tangent Opposite Adjacent.

What this means is to find the Sin(x), divide the length of the opposite side by the hypotenuse. The formula follows for Cos and Tan. If you need to find X then...

x= Sin^-1( opposite / hypotenuse)

There are all kinds of replacement formulas that I don't remember. These include sin^2, cos^2, among others. If I remember correctly sqrt(cos^2(x)) DOES NOT = cos. But sqrt(cos(x)^2) DOES = cos. Notice in the first the cos is squared and in the second cos(x) is squared.