Difference between revisions of "Radians"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
(first draft. Take it or leave it.) |
m |
||
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
Most people are familiar with the use of ''degrees'' to measure the size of an angle. A right angle is 90 degrees, a full circle is 360 degrees, and so on. | Most people are familiar with the use of ''degrees'' to measure the size of an angle. A right angle is 90 degrees, a full circle is 360 degrees, and so on. | ||
A ''radian | A ''radian'' is simply a different unit used to measure angles. Just like you can measure distance using feet, meters, or other systems, you can measure angles using degrees or radians. For various historical reasons, mathematicians often prefer radians. | ||
Most angles in LSL must be entered as radians, and not degrees. | Most angles in LSL must be entered as radians, and not degrees. | ||
Revision as of 10:04, 14 November 2008
Radians
Most people are familiar with the use of degrees to measure the size of an angle. A right angle is 90 degrees, a full circle is 360 degrees, and so on.
A radian is simply a different unit used to measure angles. Just like you can measure distance using feet, meters, or other systems, you can measure angles using degrees or radians. For various historical reasons, mathematicians often prefer radians.
Most angles in LSL must be entered as radians, and not degrees.
Converting
If you have a number d that is some number of degrees, you can convert it to radians by using d*DEG_TO_RAD. Likewise, if you have radians r, you can convert to degrees using r*RAD_TO_DEG.