Kagoshima Gov. Yuichiro Ito sought to explain Friday as a "slip of the tongue" an apparently discriminatory remark toward women he made the previous day in which he questioned the use of teaching trigonometry to women.

"What would be the use of teaching women the sine, cosine and tangent in senior high school?" Ito said, referring to trigonometric functions, when asked during a prefectural government meeting participated by education board members about how he will set educational goals.

At a regular press conference Friday, Ito said, "I meant that I myself have never used them. It was a slip of the tongue."

He also said at the education meeting, "I know this would anger female members, but . . . if you ask women whether they have ever used the sine, cosine and tangent after graduation, nine out of 10 will say 'never.' "