Using radians vs degrees GCSE Maths

I'm in year 11, studying the areas of sectors and lengths of arcs at GCSE level. How do I know whether to use radians or degrees to answer a question?

Reply 1

normanh21

It doesn't matter for areas of sectors as long as you remember to use radians or degrees consistently, i.e. (circle area)*x/360 when using degrees or x/2pi when using radians. For arc length, however, only use radians. I don't remember the entire syllabus exactly, but I would keep your calculator in degrees unless told otherwise when performing trig calculations.

Reply 2

eenie_49

i never had to use radians at gcse (just 2 years ago) !! what exam board do u do?

Reply 3

Lignum Vitae

Original post by eenie_49

i never had to use radians at gcse (just 2 years ago) !! what exam board do u do?

Thanks for the response!

I do Pearson Edexcel.

Update = I emailed my maths teacher and she said NOT to use radians. I was confused because my maths tutor (who teaches GCSE and A-Level maths) taught me about radians, which I hadn't seen in the GCSE syllabus.

Reply 4

Lignum Vitae

Original post by Lignum Vitae

I'm in year 11, studying the areas of sectors and lengths of arcs at GCSE level. How do I know whether to use radians or degrees to answer a question?

Thanks for the response!

Update = I emailed my maths teacher and she said NOT to use radians. I was confused because my maths tutor (who teaches GCSE and A-Level maths) taught me about radians, which I hadn't seen in the GCSE syllabus.