Before calculators were common, how did people take tests involving trig functions? Like, it takes no effort for me to find sin28 on my calculator, but if that comes up in any context without one, it's unsolvable without going into a bunch of books you can't use during a test.
>>16996203slide rules and trig identities
>>169962031. Get a protractor that is divided to show 28 degree 2. draw that unit circle.3. measure that vertical length labeled sin with a metered ruler divided by the unit circles radius?Before calculator they either use some good enough approximation or look up in pronted look up table
>>16996203Lookup tables, physical measurements or good enough approximations depending on use case.
>>16996203As others mentioned, lookup tables existed. Hell, any textbook that addresses trig functions more than likely has a lookup table somewhere in the index. Other than that, the test makers would be aware what the students had available to them. They wouldn't ask a question which requires a calculator in a time when calculators didn't exist. If contemporary tools made the problem tedious and take a long time, there'd be fewer questions like that.
>>16996219are you a wizard?
>>16996203sin(28°) ≈ 0.469472
>>16996203
>>16996243In a few years if not left unmarried
>>16996203Tests can and should be designed in a way that you don't need a calculator
