Trigonometry in CSS and JavaScript: Introduction to Trigonometry
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Understanding trigonometry can give us super powers when it comes to creative coding. But to the uninitiated, it can seem a little intimidating. In this 3-part series of articles we’ll get an overview of trigonometry, understand how it can be useful, and delve into some creative applications in CSS and JavaScript.
If, like me, you’ve rarely used trigonometry outside of the classroom, let’s take a trip back to school and get ourselves reacquainted.
Trigonometric functions allow us to calculate unknown values of a right-angled triangle from known parameters. Imagine you’re standing on the ground, looking up at a tall tree. It would be very difficult to measure the height of the tree from the ground. But if we know the angle at which we look up at the top of the tree, and we know the distance from ourselves to the tree, we can infer the height of the tree itself.
If we imagine this scene as a triangle, the known length (from us to the tree) is known as the adjacent side, the tree is the opposite side (it’s opposite the angle), and the longest side – from us to the top of the tree – is called the hypotenuse.
