Question:

solve the equation sin x = x/10

Hi Amandeep,

I like this question because it makes us think about what we mean by "solve". When we ask students to solve

we expect them to use the general quadratic and simplify to get

For sin x = x/10 I know one solution, x = 0 and from the diagram I know there are 6 more but I don't know a nice way to exprress them.

I can approximate the solutions to as many decimal places as you might want but I can't express the solutions in a simple algebraic or trigonometric exprression.

Cheers,
Harley