Math SAT 2 question help needed

Question

I am using barrons for SAT math level 2 . In one problem concerning functions, I need some help:

If f(x) = e^x and g(x) = sin x, then what would be the value of f o g(2)^0.5.

It asks what is f of g of root two. I know that using the function compositions, I can easily do it, But the only problem I had was that when I use my calculator in degree mode, i get the wrong answer. It was only when I used my calculator in radian mode that i got the correct answer of 2.7 appr. So, arent we always (for this kind of problem) supposed to use degree. Because we are basically taking the sin of x that is sin of a particular angle x. And if we use radian, then arent we supposed to use something with a pie(3.14.......) as the angle

?

Answer 1

Hmm it seems the radian/degree question is tripping you up here. In general you should only assume the argument (input) of a trig function is in degrees if it has degree symbol appended to it. As for your concern that (2)^0.5 does not have a "pi" as you often see many radian measurements have, there is no reason a radian angle measurement can't be a number like 1 or sqrt(2). Likewise you could have an angle measure "pi" degrees which would mean roughly 3.14 degrees in this case.