Conversion from degrees to radians

Project ID: 
3000000064
Question: 

Task: Convert the angle $\alpha=510^{\circ}$ from degrees to radians.

Richard solved the problem in the following steps:

(1) Richard claimed that in the unit circle, the measure of a straight angle, i.e., $180^{\circ}$, corresponds to an arc length of $\pi$ radians.

(2) He expressed the angle $\alpha=510^{\circ}$ as the sum of multiples of the straight angle and the remining angle: $$\alpha=510^{\circ}=2\cdot 180^{\circ}+150^{\circ}$$

(3) In this decomposition, he expressed $180^{\circ}$ as $\pi$ radians and $150^{\circ}$ as $\frac16$ of a straight angle: $$\alpha=2\pi+\frac{\pi}{6}$$

(4) Finally, he summed up the individually converted parts of the angle and obtained: $$\alpha=\frac{13}{6}\pi$$ Did Richard solve the task correctly? If not, identify the step in which he made a mistake.

Answer 1: 

Yes. The whole solution is correct.

Answer 2: 

No. The mistake is in step (1). A different arc length corresponds to the straight angle in the unit circle.

Answer 3: 

No. The mistake is in step (2). The remining angle should have been expressed in terms of the measure of the corresponding acute angle.

Answer 4: 

No. The mistake is in step (3). The conversion of degrees to radians is not done correctly in this step.

Answer 5: 

No. The mistake is in step (4). The addition is incorrectly performed.

Fixed Answer: 
All Fixed
Correct Answer: 
Answer 4
Hint: 

The correct procedure is: \begin{aligned} &\alpha=510^{\circ}=2\cdot180^{\circ}+150^{\circ}\cr &α=2\pi+\frac{5\pi}{6}=\frac{17}{6}\pi \end{aligned}

Alternative solution:

We know that $180$ degrees is equivalent to $\pi$ radians. Therefore, $1$ degree is equivalent to $\frac{\pi}{180}$ radians. To convert $510$ degrees to radians, we multiply $510$ by $\frac{\pi}{180}$: $$\alpha=510^{\circ}\Rightarrow\alpha=510\cdot\frac{\pi}{180}\mbox{radians}=\frac{17\pi}{6}\mbox{radians}$$