Trigonometry notation poll

[Darros]

Hey there, sorry for making a thread about math if you're one of those people that hates it - but I just wanted to run a quick poll about notation because it's been brought to my attention by a friend that the fact that I use arcsin, arccos, and arctan is weird. I know the inverse notation is clear [cos⁻¹(x) obviously isn't the same as sec(x)] but I've always just preferred using arc notation for my trig. So here's a small poll, which one do you use when you encounter trig?

[Athena_57]

Hi mathstudent here, I use arctan etc, as a ^-1 notation really bothers me and confuses me regarding division. In my own quick calculations however when I'm certain division won't come up I'll sometimes use ^-1 to save space/time

[Acacia Sgt]

Whenever I've found stuff like this, I mainly use -1, though on some occasions I use arc. It really depends on what the problem itself I'm solving uses.

[Skfoos]

I've seen and used both enough times to the point that they're both perfectly fine with me. The one I personally use depends on if I'm writing (^-1) or typing (arc).

However, I usually think of ^-1 when someone says inverse, so I voted for that (plus that's what's on the calculators that I use).

[Slumber]

tan⁻¹(x), mostly because that's how calculators usually format it. Just became habit, really.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Slumber

[ping]

As someone who occasionally tutors pupils in math, I'm annoyed that calculators use the sin⁻¹ notation. It's confusing and unnecessarily so, since arcsin is simply a more clear notation.

Edited July 25, 2017 by ping

[ZessDynamite]

I've always found the tan⁻¹(x) notation to be more clear. For a function F, its inverse is notated F⁻¹. Tan is a function, so it makes sense why inverse tangent is notated tan⁻¹. Of course, that rule isn't really applied for any other common function like addition or multiplication. And my experience with trig problems is fairly limited, I might find arcsin/arccos/arctan better as time goes on.

Edited July 25, 2017 by 3+2=Pie

[Nobody]

I prefer using arctan, but since calculators mostly use tan-1, i'm also used to it

[Integrity]

i love saying arctan so i also type arctan and write arctan

[CriticalMiss]

I prefer to say arctan, but I find that tan^(-1) is more convenient to write

[Serpent of Sheol]

i intergangeably use both

i tend to use tan^-1 when doing things with a lot of writing and arctan with short stuff

 

also i agree with ike

[Lord Raven]

i use arctan so i dont have to deal with superscripts; i prefer to keep things in one line if possible

that's also why i'm starting to get into the habit of using exp(...) instead of e^...

[Bluedoom]

tan inverse>arctan

 

I see arctan a lot in programming stuff though.