What is a "Radian"?
Hey pals! I know what is a radius, but what exactly is a Radian? Like the explanation in English? Thanks!!!!! :-D
"The feeling of mastering and understanding hard stuff in Game Programming is just like the feeling u get when u perform an Air-Walk in the basketball court, soaring.....and everyone''s watching in awe......."
A radian is a unit of angular measure that is equal to the angle subtended at the center of a circle by an arc which is equal in length to the radius of the circle
A radian is simply a unit of measurement for an angle. For example, 2*PI radians measures an length of a unit circle. PI measures the length of half the unit circle.
Degrees are the same deal but divided into 1/360th of a circle.
They both are simply units for measuring angles. You can choose either and convert either.
Remember how we have differant units of measure for lengths, meters, centimeters etc. We have differant units of measurment for angles to.
P.S. Its best to see a diagram in a math book to help you understand, just understand now that a radian is simply another way to measure an angle.
ECKILLER
Degrees are the same deal but divided into 1/360th of a circle.
They both are simply units for measuring angles. You can choose either and convert either.
Remember how we have differant units of measure for lengths, meters, centimeters etc. We have differant units of measurment for angles to.
P.S. Its best to see a diagram in a math book to help you understand, just understand now that a radian is simply another way to measure an angle.
ECKILLER
yeah, basically, its a measure of arc length
1 radian is equal to 180/pi degrees.
hope thats simpler for you.
Nomad
1 radian is equal to 180/pi degrees.
hope thats simpler for you.
Nomad
A Radian is a unit of angle measure, like a degree. There are 2PI (2x 3.14159...) Radians in one complete circle, just like there is 360 degrees in one circle. When you take your first trig class you will become very familiar with them. Radians simplify many problems, and are sometimes much easier to work with then degrees.
Here are some simple degree -> Radian equalities.
DEGREES RADIANS
360 2PI
270 3PI/2
180 PI
90 PI/2
I hope this helps some.
-Will
Here are some simple degree -> Radian equalities.
DEGREES RADIANS
360 2PI
270 3PI/2
180 PI
90 PI/2
I hope this helps some.
-Will
The main reason for radians comes from the actual formulas for the trig functions.
sin(x) = x - x^3/3! + x^5/5! - x^7/7!...
cos(x) = 1 - x^2/2! + x^4/4! - x^6/6!...
If you consider the unit circle, where the length along the arc of the circle is equal to the angle in radians, then you can see why that suits the trig formulas so well...
sin(x) = x - x^3/3! + x^5/5! - x^7/7!...
cos(x) = 1 - x^2/2! + x^4/4! - x^6/6!...
If you consider the unit circle, where the length along the arc of the circle is equal to the angle in radians, then you can see why that suits the trig formulas so well...
Beer Hunter makes a good point. Radians can be considered the *natural* unit for representing angles, while degrees and revolutions or cycles are *intuitive* units for representing angles.
Graham Rhodes
Senior Scientist
Applied Research Associates, Inc.
Graham Rhodes
Senior Scientist
Applied Research Associates, Inc.
I always found gradients more intuitive than degrees.... why 90 in a right angle? Doesn''t 100 make more sense?
Magmai Kai Holmlor
- The disgruntled & disillusioned
Magmai Kai Holmlor
- The disgruntled & disillusioned
Why did they choose 360 degrees for a complete circle? Does anyone know?
War Worlds - A 3D Real-Time Strategy game in development.
War Worlds - A 3D Real-Time Strategy game in development.
Probably because it is evenly divisible by so many factors:
2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 5 = 360
I don''t know when 360 was first in common use, but I think it had something to do with numerology.
Bottom line is they had to pick something.
The thing is, if you don''t like 360, you can divide your circle into as many "degrees" as you want. Personally, in my programming, I usually use 3600 "degrees" in a circle.
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