Mfcttrf

I am considering using S. L. Loney's Plane Trigonometry as the textbook for my course in trigonometry and would like to ask for opinions about the book. This books is very odd and there might be pros and cons because of its oldness.

Possible Pros:

• It is a classical textbook and stands the text of time.




• The copyright has expired yet the book is still available. Students can obtain the book at a very cheap price.



• No more newer editions. So I do not need to adjust my syllabus every few years.

Possible Cons:

• Some notations may be obsolete, such as the old notation for factorials:
  




• The author probably assumed no calculators (or computing softwares), which is now widely used in this course.




• The language in late 1800s may sound archaic to some students.

Overall do you consider this book still as a reasonable option for a course on Trigonometry today?

Edit: The course is an undergraduate course with full name Pre-Calculus Trigonometry. Its description is

Introduction to the elementary trigonometric functions using the
functional approach, simple identities, identities using the
summation, half arc, and double arc formulas, inverse and
composite functions, sketching of the elementary functions
emphasizing phase shift, period, and amplitude, and the solution of
right and obtuse angles.

The prerequisite for this course is called College Algebra with the following description:

This course provides students an opportunity to gain algebraic
knowledge needed in many different fields such as engineering,
business, education, science, computer technology, and mathematics.
Graphical, numerical, symbolic, and verbal methods support the study
of functions and their corresponding equations and inequalities.
Students will study linear, quadratic, rational, exponential,
logarithmic, inverse, composite, radical, and absolute value
functions; systems of equations and inequalities modeling applied
problems; and curve fitting techniques. There will be
extensive use of graphing calculators.

So the students in this course may or may not have any knowledge of trigonometry.

I think the language is too much of a turnoff for class use. If you want a cheap, concise text, I would go with the Schaum's:

https://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-Trigonometry-5th-Problems/dp/0071795359#reader_0071795359

Once you've gone to the bother of printing and binding the free Lonely, it's almost a wash with just buying the Schaum's. The Schaum's will be pretty direct (not a longwinded doorstop). And very good at dividing things into topics for the kids to learn.

As for your target audience, kids taking trig in college in this age are (in general, statistically, blabla) not that strong. With that in mind try to be direct and user friendly. The ae ligatures right away are a turnoff for Lonely. It is just too old fashioned in the writing.