Category Archives: Miscellaneous Posts

How To do tan^-1 on a calculator

George, miscellaneous, Miscellaneous Posts,
First off, I’m assuming that your calculator has three things: a “tan” button and a “tan-1” button. You do not have to know where the “tan-1” button is, but if it is a scientific calculator then it probably does have it. I’m also assuming that you know what the “tan” and the “tan-1” buttons do, so this will not explain that.
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Your calculator should have a button labeled “tan-1”, although usually you have to hit the “2nd” key and then the “tan” key. If you are using the calculator that comes installed with Windows 7 (at least I’m pretty sure that’s where it comes from, if someone could verify that please) and already have it set to scientific calculator (hit the “view” button in the top left corner then select “scientific”), then you hit the “Inv” key (short for “Inverse”, I think) and the “tan” button will turn into “tan-1”.
Also, make sure that the calculator is set to degrees (or radians), because it is extremely frustrating to get the wrong answer and have no idea why. To set that there is often a button that says “DRG”, with which you can cycle through degrees, radians, and gradients, using arrow keys if your calculator has them. On the Windows 7 calculator there are three buttons in the top left, beneath where the output is shown. Click the one labeled with what you want.
Finally, if you already know how to get the “tan-1” button but don’t know how to type it in, most fancy calculators (the $10+ ones) require you to input the items in the order that you would write them (e.g. type “tan-1” then “500” then “/” then “1001” then “=”). However, almost every other calculator that I use (including the Windows 7 one and calculator apps) do it similarly, but certain functions (such as square root, log, and tan) are done after you finish typing the expression (e.g. type “500” then “/” then “1001” then “tan-1” then “=”).
Of course, all of this also applies to the “sin”/”sin-1” and “cos”/”cos-1” buttons, but I was specifically asked about the “tan-1” button, so that’s what I went with.
 ~ George

Change log of October 26, 2014

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made since the last change log. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

Major Changes:

  • none

Minor Changes:

  • none

Of Special Note:

  • This change log is a day late because I was really tired last night and didn’t feel like making a change log

Certified Brilliant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg

  • I believe that if you haven’t seen Abbott and Costello Who’s on First then you are truly missing something in life. They say that actions speak louder than words, so rather than just recommending the video I’ll actively make it easier for you to see it 🙂

 

~ George

Change Log of October 19, 2014

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made since the last change log. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

  • Interesting Observation: Average Day considers what we say we like to do and what we actually like to do
  • Finally! Another Idea Polish Level 4! Culture Idea: Chance Based Currency is something I actually started about a month ago, but I kept thinking I couldn’t publish it until it was finished. However, I decided that it’d make it easier on both the reader and the writer to have it split into smaller sections that don’t take as long to read (or write 🙂 ), so that’s what I did.

Major Changes:

Minor Changes:

  • I reformatted the Cool Websites page, Extra Cool Websites page, Special Websites page, and Ponderings from Math Class post so that each item in them were individually numbered.

Of Special Note:

  • Subscribe to the blog to get email alerts whenever a new post is posted!

Certified Brilliant:

 

~ George

Change Log of October 11, 2014

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made since the last change log. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

Major Changes:

Minor Changes:

Of Special Note:

  • none

Certified Brilliant:

  • At least before you read it 🙂

 

~ George

Change Log of October 7, 2014

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made since the last change log. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

  • Both Story Idea: Non-Linear Book and
  • Age < 11 are simply Polish Level 1 ideas that I thought were interesting
  • Interesting Observation: Movie Titles, however, was supposed to be level 1, but I ended up explaining it a lot more than I intended too, because it ended up more interesting than I thought it would be

Major Changes:

  • none

Minor Changes:

  • I change the phrase “highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made that day” in the Change Log description to “highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made since the last change log“. While I intend to write the change log often, it seems silly to write one for only one item. This way I can wait until I’ve got at least two things to mention before I write a change log

Of Special Note:

  • none

Certified Brilliant:

 

~ George

Change Log of October 3, 2014 – The “To Do List” Update

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made that day. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

Major Changes:

Minor Changes:

  • I converted the To Do List from bullet points to a Numbered List for convenience (both for you and for me)
  • I marked off #1, 3, 6, and 7 off on the To Do List (!!!!!) These were all things that I’ve really wanted to do for the site but I hadn’t done until now

Of Special Note:

  • I’m starting up Certified Brilliants again! However, instead of doing it every day, I’ll add a certified brilliant to (almost) every Change Logs.
  • I find so many interesting things on the internet, I decided that I’d form my own StumbleUpon sort of page. The idea is that no matter which links you decide to click on, you’ll find something interesting.

Certified Brilliant:

  • For those who confuse “I could care less” with “I couldn’t care less”

 

~ George

Change Log of October 2, 2014

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made that day. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

Major Changes:

  • none

Minor Changes:

Of Special Note:

  • none

 

~ George

Change Log of October 1, 2014

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made that day. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

  • George’s Posts
    • Might as well make some use of the time I spend in math class 😉 : Ponderings from Math Class (Note: just to be clear, I spend almost all the time listening to the teacher. Glad to have that out of the way 🙂 )

Major Changes:

  • There is now an About Us page! Now we just need to fill it…:)

Minor Changes:

  • none

Of Special Note:

  • none

 

~ George

Change Log of September 23, 2014

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made that day. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

Major Changes:

Minor Changes:

  • none

Of Special Note:

  • none

 

~ George

Change Log of September 19, 2014

Change Logs, George, Miscellaneous Posts

At the end of every day (or, at least every day that I change something), I make a post that highlights all of the changes and/or posts that have been made that day. This way I can update previous posts and actually have the changes be found, plus readers will be able get easy access to all the new posts without scrolling down too much. Note: Since this post will be the last thing I post each day, it is less likely to be properly cleaned up, as I will be rather tired at that point

New posts:

Major Changes:

  • none

Minor Changes:

  • none

Of Special Note: IMPORTANT!

  • School started, and the last two three weeks have been really crazy,  so I haven’t made the time to work on the blog. That’s going to/has change(d) though, I recently signed up for the 100 Words for 100 Days challenge, which started Monday the 15th. The goal is to, well, write at least 100 words every day for 100 days. It’s supposed to be for a novel or the like, but I decided that it would work for the blog. So my goal is to write at least 100 words a day for the blog, not including Change Logs. This doesn’t mean I’ll post something everyday, but I’ll  work on something everyday. A prime example of the “not necessarily a post everyday” is that I started 5 days ago and everyone of those (except today) I’ve spent on one post, which will hopefully come out soon.

 

~ George