Suppose you have two calculators, one set to work in degrees, and the other set to work in radians. The trouble, is that you don't know which is which. When you enter cos(3.14) you get -0.999999 from the first calculator, and 0.998499 from the second.

Explain how you could tell, without further use of a calculator, which one is set to degrees and which is set to radians.

Question

Suppose you have two calculators, one set to work in degrees, and the other set to work in radians. The trouble, is that you don't know which is which. When you enter cos(3.14) you get -0.999999 from the first calculator, and 0.998499 from the second.

Explain how you could tell, without further use of a calculator, which one is set to degrees and which is set to radians.

anonymous · Answer

cosine of 3.14 is close to cosine of pi, and cosine of pi is -1

campbell_st · Answer

the calculator giving the answer of 0.998499 is set to degrees. 

Cos(0) = 1   Cos(3.14)  is close to 1. 

Cos (pi) = -1   cos (3.14) = 0.99999        3.14 is a approximation and is less than the value of pi