Trigonometry Examples

$4 \cos^{2} (x) - 1 = 0$

Add $1$ to both sides of the equation.

$4 \cos^{2} (x) = 1$

Divide each term by $4$ and simplify.

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Divide each term in $4 \cos^{2} (x) = 1$ by $4$ .

$\frac{4 \cos^{2} (x)}{4} = \frac{1}{4}$

Reduce the expression by cancelling the common factors.

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Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{4 \cos^{2} (x)}{4} = \frac{1}{4}$

Divide $\cos^{2} (x)$ by $1$ .

$\cos^{2} (x) = \frac{1}{4}$

Take the square root of both sides of the equation to eliminate the exponent on the left side.

$\cos (x) = \pm \sqrt{\frac{1}{4}}$

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

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Simplify the right side of the equation.

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Rewrite $\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}}$ as $\frac{\sqrt{1}}{\sqrt{4}}$ .

$\cos (x) = \pm \frac{\sqrt{1}}{\sqrt{4}}$

Any root of $1$ is $1$ .

$\cos (x) = \pm \frac{1}{\sqrt{4}}$

Simplify the denominator.

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Rewrite $4$ as $2^{2}$ .

$\cos (x) = \pm \frac{1}{\sqrt{2^{2}}}$

Pull terms out from under the radical, assuming positive real numbers.

$\cos (x) = \pm \frac{1}{2}$

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

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First, use the positive value of the $\pm$ to find the first solution.

$\cos (x) = \frac{1}{2}$

Next, use the negative value of the $\pm$ to find the second solution.

$\cos (x) = - \frac{1}{2}$

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

$\cos (x) = \frac{1}{2}, - \frac{1}{2}$

Set up each of the solutions to solve for $x$ .

$\cos (x) = \frac{1}{2}$

$\cos (x) = - \frac{1}{2}$

Set up the equation to solve for $x$ .

$\cos (x) = \frac{1}{2}$

Solve the equation for $x$ .

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Take the inverse cosine of both sides of the equation to extract $x$ from inside the cosine.

$x = \arccos (\frac{1}{2})$

The exact value of $\arccos (\frac{1}{2})$ is $\frac{π}{3}$ .

$x = \frac{π}{3}$

The cosine function is positive in the first and fourth quadrants. To find the second solution, subtract the reference angle from $2 π$ to find the solution in the fourth quadrant.

$x = 2 π - \frac{π}{3}$

Simplify $2 π - \frac{π}{3}$ .

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To write $\frac{2 π}{1}$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{3}{3}$ .

$x = \frac{2 π}{1} \cdot \frac{3}{3} - \frac{π}{3}$

Write each expression with a common denominator of $3$ , by multiplying each by an appropriate factor of $1$ .

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Combine.

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 3}{1 \cdot 3} - \frac{π}{3}$

Multiply $3$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 3}{3} - \frac{π}{3}$

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 3 - π}{3}$

Simplify the numerator.

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Multiply $3$ by $2$ .

$x = \frac{6 π - π}{3}$

Subtract $π$ from $6 π$ .

$x = \frac{5 π}{3}$

Find the period.

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The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{2 π}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{2 π}{| b |}$

Replace $b$ with $1$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{2 π}{| 1 |}$

Solve the equation.

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The absolute value is the distance between a number and zero. The distance between $0$ and $1$ is $1$ .

$\frac{2 π}{1}$

Divide $2 π$ by $1$ .

$2 π$

The period of the $\cos (x)$ function is $2 π$ so values will repeat every $2 π$ radians in both directions.

$x = \frac{π}{3} + 2 π n, \frac{5 π}{3} + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

Set up the equation to solve for $x$ .

$\cos (x) = - \frac{1}{2}$

Solve the equation for $x$ .

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Take the inverse cosine of both sides of the equation to extract $x$ from inside the cosine.

$x = \arccos (- \frac{1}{2})$

The exact value of $\arccos (- \frac{1}{2})$ is $\frac{2 π}{3}$ .

$x = \frac{2 π}{3}$

The cosine function is negative in the second and third quadrants. To find the second solution, subtract the reference angle from $2 π$ to find the solution in the third quadrant.

$x = 2 π - \frac{2 π}{3}$

Simplify $2 π - \frac{2 π}{3}$ .

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To write $\frac{2 π}{1}$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{3}{3}$ .

$x = \frac{2 π}{1} \cdot \frac{3}{3} - \frac{2 π}{3}$

Write each expression with a common denominator of $3$ , by multiplying each by an appropriate factor of $1$ .

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Combine.

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 3}{1 \cdot 3} - \frac{2 π}{3}$

Multiply $3$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 3}{3} - \frac{2 π}{3}$

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 3 - 2 π}{3}$

Simplify the numerator.

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Multiply $3$ by $2$ .

$x = \frac{6 π - 2 π}{3}$

Subtract $2 π$ from $6 π$ .

$x = \frac{4 π}{3}$

Find the period.

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The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{2 π}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{2 π}{| b |}$

Replace $b$ with $1$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{2 π}{| 1 |}$

Solve the equation.

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The absolute value is the distance between a number and zero. The distance between $0$ and $1$ is $1$ .

$\frac{2 π}{1}$

Divide $2 π$ by $1$ .

$2 π$

The period of the $\cos (x)$ function is $2 π$ so values will repeat every $2 π$ radians in both directions.

$x = \frac{2 π}{3} + 2 π n, \frac{4 π}{3} + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

List all of the results found in the previous steps.

$x = \frac{π}{3} + 2 π n, \frac{2 π}{3} + 2 π n, \frac{4 π}{3} + 2 π n, \frac{5 π}{3} + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

The complete solution is the set of all solutions.

$x = \frac{π}{3} + 2 π n, \frac{5 π}{3} + 2 π n, \frac{2 π}{3} + 2 π n, \frac{4 π}{3} + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

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