The only "application" and I use the term loosely I've seen of Hyperbolas so far is in the use of hyperbolic trig functions like sinh, cosh, tanh, etc. It just simplifies the visualization of what's happening. You'd use the hyperbola for the hyperbolic trig functions like you'd use the unit circle for the trig functions.
I agree with you, though. I'm not seeing a whole lot of usefulness with conic sections so far. And graphing is a total pain. The unit on graphing polar graphs nearly killed me, as I was spending nearly 30 minutes/graph. Sadly, graphing is one of those things only lots of repeated practice is gonna help you conquer. It does help to have graphing software to confirm what's happening, though.
*hugs* Hopefully once you're done with algebra, you won't have to revisit it much if your career doesn't require it! I feel for you on the party people issue. I had the same problems with people yelling and laughing at 2 AM while I had an exam that day. I found that mental visualizations of violence really helps. That and punching pillows.
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Date: 2004-05-13 10:07 am (UTC)I agree with you, though. I'm not seeing a whole lot of usefulness with conic sections so far. And graphing is a total pain. The unit on graphing polar graphs nearly killed me, as I was spending nearly 30 minutes/graph. Sadly, graphing is one of those things only lots of repeated practice is gonna help you conquer. It does help to have graphing software to confirm what's happening, though.
*hugs* Hopefully once you're done with algebra, you won't have to revisit it much if your career doesn't require it! I feel for you on the party people issue. I had the same problems with people yelling and laughing at 2 AM while I had an exam that day. I found that mental visualizations of violence really helps. That and punching pillows.