VCSMS PRIME

Session 2: Trigonometry
compiled by Carl Joshua Quines
September 23, 2016

Circular functions
1. As cos x = − cos(180◦ − x), the sum is 0.
√
2. Rearranging, x/y = 5/3 = tan θ. Thus sin θ = 5/ 34.
3. The line is the terminal side of an angle θ. Note that tan θ = tan 75◦ , so the angle is 75◦ . The√tangent
line to the unit circle makes an angle of 165◦ with the origin, so its slope is tan 165◦ = −2 + 3.
4. We let x = 1 to get the sum of the coefficients as cos(2 cos−1 (0)) = −1.

Identities
√ √
◦ 6+ 2
1. The half-angle identity gives cos 15 = .
4
2. We wish to evaluate log2 sin(π/8) cos(15π/8). By the product-to-sum identity, this is log2 (1/2)(sin(2π) +
sin(7π/4)) = −3/2.
tan x + tan y 1
3. We use the fact that tan(x + y) = to get tan x tan y = . Then cot2 x + cot2 y =
1 − tan x tan y 2
(tan x + tan y)2 − 2 tan x tan y
= 96.
tan2 x tan2 y
cot 37◦ cot 8◦ − 1
4. Note that cot(37◦ + 8◦ ) = = 1, so cot 37◦ cot 8◦ − 1 = cot 37◦ + cot 8◦ . This rearranges
cot 37◦ + cot 8◦
to (1 − cot 37◦ )(1 − cot 8◦ ) = 2.
2·3−1
5. We see cot(cot−1 2 + cot−1 3) = = 1. Similarly, cot(cot−1 4 + cot−1 5) = 19/9. Finally,
2+3
cot(cot−1 1 + cot−1 19/9) = 5/14.
sin θ◦ cos 1◦ + sin 1◦ cos θ◦ sin(θ◦ + 1◦ )
6. Note that tan θ◦ cos 1◦ + sin 1◦ = ◦
= . The product telescopes
cos θ cos θ◦
1
using cofunctions and the result is = csc 1◦ .
sin 1◦
7. Interpret this with the unit circle: there is a right triangle with legs of length sec α and csc α, and
its hypotenuse is tan α + cot α. The area of the triangle is equal to half the product of its legs, or
1
2 sec α csc α. It is also equal to half√
the product of the hypotenuse and the altitude to the hypotenuse,
1
or 2 (tan α + cot α). The answer is 14.

Equations
 π   π 
1. (The equation holds for all x.) By phase shift, 2 sin 3x = 2 cos 3x − + 2kπ = −2 cos 3x + + 2kπ
2 2
for some k ∈ Z. The product ac in both cases is (4k − 1)π.
 π π
2. Square both sides to yield 1−2 sin 2θ cos 2θ = 1−sin 4θ = 3/2, giving sin 4θ = −1/2. Since θ ∈ − , ,
2 2
it follows 4θ ∈ (−2π, 2π). In this interval, sin 4θ becomes −1/2 four times, so the equation has four
solutions.
3. Square both sides and substitute cos2 θ = 1−sin2 θ to yield 5 sin2 θ+2 sin θ−3 = (5 sin θ−3)(sin θ+1) = 0.
Either sin θ = 3/5 or sin θ = −1, but we can eliminate the latter as 0 < θ < π/2. Thus sin θ = 3/5.
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4. Substituting sec2 x = tan2 x + 1 and simplifying gives the quadratic equation tan2 x + 6 tan x − 16 =
(tan x + 8)(tan x − 2) = 0, thus x ∈ {tan−1 2 ± kπ, tan−1 (−8) ± kπ|k ∈ Z}.
1
5. Transpose and square both sides. Substitute sin2 x = 1 − cos2 x and then cos x = u to get the
cos x
3 1 8
equation = 16 + 2 − . Clear the denominators to get 16u4 − 8u3 − 12u2 + 8u − 1 = 0.
1 − u2 u u
1
By inspection, u = works; dividing through gives 8u3 − 6u + 1 = 0. This reminds one of the triple
2
1
angle formula cos 3x = 4 cos3 x − 3 cos x. We rewrite the equation as 4u3 − 3u = − = cos 3x. Keeping
2
4π 4π
in mind x ∈ (−π/2, 0), we let 3x = − and get x = − .
3 9
6. Transpose the first term of the left hand side, use the double angle formulae, and then use cofunctions
to get cos(2x + b) = sin(2ax − π) = cos(3π/2 − 2ax). We can see that there are two cases: when a = 1
and b = π/2 + 2kπ, k ∈ Z, or when a = −1 and b = 3π/2 + 2kπ, k ∈ Z.
1 1 − tan α
7. Substitute cot α = and simplify to get tan β = . Cross-multiply and rearrange the
tan α 1 + tan α
tan α + tan β
terms to get tan α + tan β = 1 − tan α tan β, which is = tan(α + β) = 1, so α + β = π/4.
1 − tan α tan β
1 1
8. Note cos 8θ = 2 cos2 4θ − 1, so + cos 8θ = cos2 4θ. Taking the positive root and repeating gives
2 2 h π i  15π 
cos θ. Thus cos 4θ, cos 2θ and cos θ must all be at least 0. This is when θ ∈ 0, ∪ , 2π .
8 8

Triangle laws
CD
1. This is a 45◦ − 45◦ − 90◦ triangle, thus ∠ACD = 60◦ and ∠CDA = 75◦ . By the sine law, =
sin 45◦
AC √
, so CD = 3 − 1. The altitude of ADC with respect to the base AC has length CD sin 60◦ =
sin 75◦
1 √ 1 √
(3 − 3), thus the area is (3 − 3).
2 4
2. There is a solution with the sine law, but the synthetic solution involves letting D be the foot of the
altitude from C √to AB, making ADC a 30◦ − 60◦ − 90◦√triangle and BCD a 45◦ −√45◦ − 90◦ triangle.
2 6 3+ 3
AD has length and CD and BD both have length . The area is then .
2 2 2
√
3. Let BM = M C = x. By Apollonius’, AC = 2x2 − 14. We use the cosine law to get cos ∠BAC =
√
2 2
42 − 2x2 − 14 − (2x) 1 − x2
√ = √ . We want to maximize this, and upon seeing the nu-
2 · 4 2x2 − 14 4 2x2 − 14
merator being negative, 2 we are  inspired 
to take the negative and minimize
 using AM-GM. Then
x2 − 7 √

1 x −1 1 6 1 6
cos ∠BAC = − √ √ =− √ √ +√ =− √ x −7+ √
2 ≤
4 √2 x2 − 7 4 2 x2 − 7 x2 − 7 4 2 x2 − 7
1 √ 3
− √ ·2 6=− by AM-GM. Thus ∠BAC ≥ 150◦ .
4 2 2
a2 + b2 − c2
4. By the cosine law, = 2 cos γ. Since 2 cos γ = 2 cos(π − α − β) = −2 cos(α + β), we can use
ab
32
the sum formula for cosine to get the answer as .
65
5. There is a straightforward solution with the sine law, but we will proceed synthetically. Let A0 be the
point on the line AB that is not N such that A0 A = 6. Then AA0 = AC = AN = 6, thus A is the center
of a circle with diameter A0 N containing point C, and ∠A0 CN = 90◦ . Draw a line through N parallel
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to CA0 and let it intersect lines CM and CB at P and Q respectively. Since 4A0 M C ∼ 4P M N and
MN BN
4A0 BC ∼ 4N BQ, we have P N = 0
· CA0 and QN = · CA0 , and substituting the given shows
MA BA0
that P N = QN , which implies 4CN P ∼ = 4CN Q, which implies ∠M CN = ∠N CB.
6. By the cosine law, a2 = b2 + c2 − bc. Factoring, b3 + c3 = (b + c)(b2 + c2 − bc) = (b + c)a2 . Add a3 to
both sides and rearrange to get the desired equality.