Chapter 18: Girl Talk

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"Ugh, Evie, can you help me with this!" Mal huffed, frustrated with the trigonometry homework in front of her.

"Sure, what do you need?" Evie asked, dragging her wooden chair to Mal's desk.

"See, I'm told to find the exact value of cosine of sine inverse of 3/5. I know that the exact value of any sine inverse should be between -90 and 90. Also, I know that sine theta equals 3/5. What I need to figure out is cosine theta. I'm struggling with how to do that using the unit circle."

"I think you see the information you need, but you just aren't sure how to use it," Evie began as she grabbed a piece of scratch paper and a pencil from Mal's backpack," let's start by drawing the unit circle." Evie then began to guide Mal towards the right answer, making sure that she understood as she talked. When Mal didn't understand, Evie would reword the information, and she made sure her words clear and simple. Mal nodded her head in understanding when things made sense. Sure, it was boring, but at least it was Evie teaching her. Mal's Trigonometry professor spoke in a soft monotone voice, making it difficult to pay attention. Evie kept Mal focused by having her explain what she learned back to her before continuing.

"Therefore, we have three squared plus x squared, x being the cosine value, equals five squared. I think you can solve that," Evie assured her.

"Yes, I can," Mal agreed as she took the pencil from Evie,"three squared is nine, x squared remains x squared for now, and five squared becomes 25. Now, we subtract nine from both sides, which gives us x squared equals sixteen. We square root both sides, giving us x equals four."

"Correct, Mal. We now know that the cosine theta on this unit circle is four. So now that we know both the radius on the cosine value, was is the exact value of this equation?"

"The exact value of cosine of sine inverse of 3/5 equals 4/5."

"Indeed it is, Mal. Do you know that the tangent value would be?"

"Yes, the tangent value here would be 3/4."

"Good job. See, you know this stuff. You just need to slow down and try not to get so frustrated. Try and do a few more problems like this out of the book, and I know you'll get this soon."

"Thank you Evie, I really appreciate it."

"No problem, Mal. I want to see you succeed. Now, if only I could succeed at understanding the subjunctive form in Spanish!"

"I think I may be able to help you with that!"

"I always forget that you completed your Spanish minor. Ok hotshot, let's see what you got."

"First, you need to know," Mal began as she grabbed another piece of scratch paper from her bag,"that when using the subjunctive, there are two things you need. One, you need to be changing the subject of the conversation, and second you need to remember that you need to be saying certain words. Here try remembering the acronym, WEIRDO."

"WEIRDO? That is the stupidest acronym I've ever heard."

"I know," Mal laughed,"I know, but it works. The W stands for wishes/desires, the E stands for emotions, the I stands for impersonal thoughts/feelings, the R stands for recommendations, the D stands for doubt, the O stands for Ojalá which is the Spanish word for hope. If you are mentioning anything involving those things, you need to use the subjunctive form. Also, you need to always use the word 'que' before you change subjects."

"Can you give me an example?"

"Sure. Quiero que comprendas Español. (I want you to understand Spanish.) Also, don't forget to conjugate your verbs! There is a special conjugation just for the subjunctive form."

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