Jason: 135°?
Marcus: -1
Jason: 60°?
Marcus: ?3
Jason: 90°?
Marcus: Undefined
Peter: So what are you nerds up to?
Jason: Just working on our tans.
Marcus: Wanna switch things around and try some arctans?
Degrees because most of us think in rectangular coordinates not in polar coordinates. Tan is just y/x in rectangular coordinates. I’ve never been able to wrap my head around grads.
A bit late but the square root of 3 demands knowledge of the x^2 + y^2 = z^2 rule for right triangles. And the only reason for radians is to make d/dx (sin(x)) = cos(x). It’s the degrees that make the sqrt(3) exactly correct.
Templo S.U.D. over 9 years ago
I don’t get it.
whims over 9 years ago
It’s the trigonometric tangent function: in degrees, tan(135)=-1, etc….
JonGl Premium Member over 9 years ago
I think that of all the geeky strips that Amend has done, this has got to be the geekiest of them all! Hilarious!
su43dipta over 9 years ago
..“working on our tans”!! hilarious!!
ChukLitl Premium Member over 9 years ago
It’s Greek to me.
Nachikethass over 9 years ago
I hate Trigonometry and Calculus! I can live with Algebra, though!
DaveTheInverted over 9 years ago
But…who does trig in degrees? Or is this a meta thing where Amend doesn’t think the audience would grok radians?
AlanM over 9 years ago
Degrees because most of us think in rectangular coordinates not in polar coordinates. Tan is just y/x in rectangular coordinates. I’ve never been able to wrap my head around grads.
cj7ole over 9 years ago
Glad to see I am not the only CE that reads the comics.
P51Strega over 9 years ago
What’s your angle here?
Prey over 9 years ago
If a couple sign the register, is that a cosine?
wcorvi over 9 years ago
From the comments, there are 10 kinds of people – those who understand binary, and those who don’t.
NeedaChuckle Premium Member over 9 years ago
I am horrible at math but I got this. I design and build stuff and need to use Trig a lot for angles. Its that X and Y stuff that confuses me!
i_am_the_jam over 9 years ago
I’m glad I’m on the minority that DOES get this joke without asking questions :D :D :D
Aaberon over 9 years ago
I admire the mathematical mind as mine is somewhat limited; the’ working on our tans’ is a really great chuckler for the day!!
cubswin2016 over 9 years ago
Even though this looks weird, it is still safer than the normal way.
Retired Dude over 9 years ago
The only time I use trigonometry is when I’m playing 8-ball.
Stephen Gilberg over 9 years ago
Nerd jokes are what led me to like this comic in the first place.
RR208 over 9 years ago
A couple of really Tan Gents.Thanks!
Get fuzzy 4527 over 9 years ago
General Class was easy, Extra Class is probably easy for “Elmer’s”.
patsy62 over 9 years ago
Geeks rule.
ChukLitl Premium Member over 9 years ago
Spherical trig for navigation was fun because it went to it’s origins.
ksu71 over 9 years ago
True nerds would use radians: 3π/4, π/3, π/2
DougMcNutt over 9 years ago
A bit late but the square root of 3 demands knowledge of the x^2 + y^2 = z^2 rule for right triangles. And the only reason for radians is to make d/dx (sin(x)) = cos(x). It’s the degrees that make the sqrt(3) exactly correct.