Category Archives: Identities

August 25, 2025 · 3:29 am

Matrices -Linear Transformations (Rotation)

We are going to find a matrix to rotate a point about the origin a number of degrees (or radians).

$P$ and $P'$ are equidistant from the origin. I.e. $\sqrt{c^2+d^2}=\sqrt{a^2+b^2}$

Remember, anti-clockwise angles are positive.

$\begin{equation*}cos(\theta+\alpha)=\frac{c}{\sqrt{c^2+d^2}}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}c=\sqrt{a^2+b^2}cos(\theta+\alpha)\end{equation}$

Use the cosine addition identity.

$\begin{equation*}c=\sqrt{a^2+b^2}(cos(\theta)cos(\alpha)-sin(\theta)sin(\alpha))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}c=\sqrt{a^2+b^2}(cos(\theta)\frac{a}{\sqrt{a^2+b^2}}-sin(\theta)\frac{b}{\sqrt{a^2+b^2}})\end{equation}$

(1) $\begin{equation*}c=acos(\theta)-bsin(\theta)\end{equation*}$

We will do the same for $d$

$\begin{equation*}sin(\theta+\alpha)=\frac{d}{\sqrt{a^2+b^2}}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}d=\sqrt{a^2+b^2}sin(\theta+\alpha)\end{equation}$

Use the sine addition identity.

$\begin{equation*}d=\sqrt{a^2+b^2}(sin(\theta)cos(\alpha)+cos(\theta)sin(\alpha)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}d=\sqrt{a^2+b^2}(sin(\theta)\frac{a}{\sqrt{a^2+b^2}}+cos(\theta)\frac{b}{\sqrt{a^2+b^2}})\end{equation}$

(2) $\begin{equation*}d=asin(\theta)+bcos(\theta)\end{equation*}$

Let $R$ be the rotation matrix, then

$\begin{equation*}R\begin{bmatrix}a\\b\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}acos(\theta)-bsin(\theta)\\asin(\theta)+bcos(\theta)\end{bmatrix}\end{equation}$

Hence $R$ must be

(3) $\begin{equation*}R=\begin{bmatrix}cos(\theta)&-sin(\theta)\\sin(\theta)&cos(\theta)\end{bmatrix}\end{equation*}$

Example

Find the image of the line $y=x+1$ after it is rotated $60^\circ$ about the origin.

I am going to select two points on the line and transform them.

$\begin{equation*}\begin{bmatrix}cos(60)&-sin(60)\\sin(60)&cos(60)\end{bmatrix}\begin{bmatrix}0&4\\1&5\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}x'_1&x'_2\\y'_1&y'_2\end{bmatrix}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\begin{bmatrix}\frac{1}{2}&-\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}\\\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}&\frac{1}{2}\end{bmatrix}\begin{bmatrix}0&4\\1&5\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}x'_1&x'_2\\y'_1&y'_2\end{bmatrix}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\begin{bmatrix}-\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}&\frac{4-5\sqrt{3}}{2}\\\frac{1}{2}&2\sqrt{3}+\frac{5}{2}\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}x'_1&x'_2 \\y'_1&y'_2\end{bmatrix}\end{equation}$

We can then find the equation of the line.

$\begin{equation*}m=\frac{2\sqrt{3}+\frac{5}{2}-\frac{1}{2}}{\frac{4-5\sqrt{3}+\sqrt{3}}{2}}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}m=-2-\sqrt{3}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}y-\frac{1}{2}=(-2-\sqrt{3})(x+\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2})\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}y=(-2-\sqrt{3})x-1-\sqrt{3}\end{equation}$

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Filed under Addition and Subtraction Identities, Identities, Matrices, Transformations, Trigonometry, Year 11 Specialist Mathematics

Tagged as matrix transformations, rotation matrix

August 14, 2025 · 6:39 am

Trig Identities and Exact Values

My Year 11 Specialist Mathematics students are working on Trig identities. We came across this question

Without the use of a calculator, evaluate
(a) $cos20^\circ\times cos40^\circ\times cos80^\circ$

(b) $cos(\frac{\pi}{7})\times cos(\frac{2\pi}{7})\times cos(\frac{4\pi}{7})$

OT Lee Year 11 Specialist Mathematics textbook

I spent a bit of time thinking about the question. Can you use a product to sum identity twice? But I was always being left with an angle that doesn’t have a nice exact value.

I tried a few things, had a chat to Meta AI, and finally stumbled upon this method.

Remember

$\begin{equation*}sin(2x)=2sin(x)cos(x)\end{equation}$

Which can be rearranged to

$\begin{equation*}cos(x)=\frac{sin(2x)}{sin(x)}\end{equation}$

(a) $cos20^\circ\times cos40^\circ\times cos80^\circ=\frac{sin(40)}{2sin(20)}\frac{sin(80)}{2sin(40)}\frac{sin(160)}{2sin(80)}$

Which simplifies to

$\begin{equation*}\frac{sin(160)}{8sin(20)}\end{equation}$

Now $sin(160)=sin(20)$

Hence $cos20^\circ\times cos40^\circ\times cos80^\circ=\frac{1}{8}$

And we will do the same for part (b)

$cos(\frac{\pi}{7})\times cos(\frac{2\pi}{7})\times cos(\frac{4\pi}{7})=\frac{sin(\frac{2\pi}{7})}{2sin(\frac{\pi}{7})}\frac{sin(\frac{4\pi}{7})}{2sin(\frac{2\pi}{7})}\frac{sin(\frac{8\pi}{7})}{2sin(\frac{4\pi}{7})}$

Which simplifies to

$cos(\frac{\pi}{7})\times cos(\frac{2\pi}{7})\times cos(\frac{4\pi}{7})=\frac{sin(\frac{8\pi}{7})}{8sin(\frac{\pi}{7})}$

Now $sin(\frac{8\pi}{7})=-sin(\frac{\pi}{7})$

Hence $cos(\frac{\pi}{7})\times cos(\frac{2\pi}{7})\times cos(\frac{4\pi}{7})=\frac{-1}{8}$

And then I had to test them on my Classpad.

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Filed under Classpad Skills, Identities, Simplifying fractions, Trigonometry, Year 11 Specialist Mathematics

Tagged as exact values, trig identities

August 10, 2025 · 4:54 am

Trigonometric Identities – Product to Sum

Let’s think about the sine and cosine addition and subtraction trig identities.

(1) $\begin{equation*}sin(A+B)=sinAcosB+cosAsinB\end{equation*}$

(2) $\begin{equation*}sin(A-B)=sinAcosB-cosAsinB\end{equation*}$

If we add equation $1$ and $2$ , we get

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+B)+sin(A-B)=2sinAcosB\end{equation}$

Hence, $sinAcosB=\frac{1}{2}(sin(A+B)+sin(A-B))$

If we subtract equation $2$ from equation $1$ , we get

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+B)-sin(A-B)=2cosAsinB\end{equation}$

Hence, $cosAsinB=\frac{1}{2}(sin(A+B)-sin(A-B)$

What about the cosine addition and subtraction idenities?

(3) $\begin{equation*}cos(A+B)=cosAcosB-sinAsinB\end{equation*}$

(4) $\begin{equation*}cos(A-B)=cosAcosB+sinAsinB\end{equation*}$

If we add equation $3$ and $4$ , we get

$\begin{equation*}cos(A+B)+cos(A-B)=2cosAcosB\end{equation}$

Hence, $cosAcosB=\frac{1}{2}(cos(A+B)+cos(A-B))$

If we subtract $3$ from $4$ , we get

$\begin{equation*}cos(A-B)-cos(A+B)=2sinAsinB\end{equation}$

Hence, $sinAsinB=\frac{1}{2}(cos(A-B)-cos(A+B))$

These are the product to sum identities.

$\begin{equation*}sinAcosB=\frac{1}{2}(sin(A+B)+sin(A-B))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cosAsinB=\frac{1}{2}(sin(A+B)-sin(A-B))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cosAcosB=\frac{1}{2}(cos(A+B)+cos(A-B))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sinAsinB=\frac{1}{2}(cos(A-B)-cos(A+B))\end{equation}$

Examples

(1) Solve $sin(5x)-sin(x)=0$ for $0\le x \le 2\pi$

Remember,

$\begin{equation*}cosAsinB=\frac{1}{2}(sin(A+B)-sin(A-B))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}A+B=5\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}A-B=1\end{equation}$

Therefore, $A=3$ and $B=2$

$\begin{equation*}sin(5x)-sin(x)=2cos(3x)sin(2x)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cos(3x)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}3x=\frac{\pi}{2},\frac{3\pi}{2}, \frac{5\pi}{2}, \frac{7\pi}{2}, \frac{\9\pi}{2}, \frac{11\pi}{2}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}x=\frac{\pi}{6}, \frac{\pi}{2}, \frac{5\pi}{6}, \frac{7\pi}{6}, \frac{3\pi}{2}, \frac{11\pi}{6}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin(2x)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}2x=0, \pi, 2\pi, 3\pi, 4\pi\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}x=0, \frac{\pi}{2}, \pi, \frac{3\pi}{2}, 2\pi\end{equation}$

Hence $x=0, \frac{\pi}{6}. \frac{\pi}{2}, \frac{5\pi}{6}, \pi, \frac{7\pi}{6}, \frac{3\pi}{2}, \frac{11\pi}{6}, 2\pi$

(2)Solve $sin(7\theta)-sin(\theta)=sin(3\theta)$ for $0 \le \theta \le\2\pi$

$\begin{equation*}cosAsinB=\frac{1}{2}(sin(A+B)-sin(A-B))\end{equation}$

Therefore, $A+B=7$ and $A-B=1$

$A=4, B=3$

$\begin{equation*}2cos(4\theta)sin(3\theta)=sin(3\theta)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}2cos(4\theta)sin(3\theta)-sin(3\theta)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin(3\theta)(2cos(4\theta)-1)=0\end{equation}$

$sin(3\theta)=0$ and $cos(4\theta)=\frac{1}{2}$

$3\theta=0, \pi, 2\pi, 3\pi, 4\pi, 5\pi, 6\pi$

$\theta=0, \frac{\pi}{3}, \frac{2\pi}{3}, \frac{4\pi}{3}, \frac{5\pi}{3}. 2\pi$

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

$4\theta=\frac{\pi}{3}, \frac{5\pi}{3}, \frac{7\pi}{3}, \frac{11\pi}{3}, \frac{13\pi}{3}, \frac{17\pi}{3}, \frac{19\pi}{3}, \frac{23\pi}{3}$

$\theta=\frac{\pi}{12}, \frac{5\pi}{12}, \frac{7\pi}{12}, \frac{11\pi}{12}, \frac{13\pi}{12}, \frac{17\pi}{12}, \frac{19\pi}{12}, \frac{23\pi}{12}$

Hence $\theta=0, \frac{\pi}{3}, \frac{5\pi}{12}, \frac{7\pi}{12}, \frac{11\pi}{12}, \frac{13\pi}{12}, \frac{17\pi}{12}, \frac{5\pi}{3}, \frac{23\pi}{12}, 2\pi$

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Filed under Addition and Subtraction Identities, Identities, Product to Sum idenitites, Trigonometry

Tagged as product to sum trig identities, solving trig equations, trig identities

August 2, 2025 · 9:30 am

Trigonometric Exact Value

Using an appropriate double angle identity, find the exact value of
$cos(\frac{\pi}{12})$

The double angle identity for sine is

(1) $\begin{equation*}cos(2A)=cos^2A-sin^2A=2cos^2A-1=1-2sin^2A\end{equation*}$

That means $\frac{\pi}{12}$ is either $2A$ or $A$ .

It must be $A$ as $2\times\frac{\pi}{12}=\frac{\pi}{6}$ as there are exact values for $\frac{\pi}{6}$

Hence,

$\begin{equation*}cos{\frac{\pi}{6}}=2cos^2{\frac{\pi}{12}}-1\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}=2cos^2{\frac{\pi}{12}}-1\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}+1=2cos^2{\frac{\pi}{12}}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}+1}{2}=cos^2{\frac{\pi}{12}}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{\sqrt{3}+2}{4}=cos^2{\frac{\pi}{12}}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\sqrt{\frac{\sqrt{3}+2}{4}}=cos{\frac{\pi}{12}}\end{equation}$

As $\frac{\pi}{12}$ is in the first quadrant, we don’t need to consider the negative version.

$\begin{equation*}cos(\frac{\pi}{12})=\frac{\sqrt{3}+2}{2}\end{equation}$

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Filed under Algebra, Identities, Trigonometry, Year 11 Mathematical Methods

Tagged as trig double angle identities, trig exact values

July 28, 2025 · 8:09 am

Trig Identities – Addition and Subtraction

Deriving the addition and subtraction trigonometric identities.

We will start with cosine, and use the result to derive the remaining identities.

Proving $cos(A-B)=cos(A)cos(B)+sin(A)(sin(B)$ .

$A$ and $B$ are represented in the unit circle below.

Remember $P(x_1,y_1)=(cos(A), sin(A))$ and $Q(x_2, y_2)=(cos(B), sin(B))$

Using the cosine rule and triangle $OPQ$ , find $PQ$

$\begin{equation*}(PQ)^2=1^2+1^2-2(1)(1)cos(A-B)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}(PQ)^2=2-2cos(A-B)\end{equation}$

Using the distance between points, find $PQ$

$\begin{equation*}(PQ)^2=(x_1-x_2)^2+(y_1-y_2)^2\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}(PQ)^2=(cosA-cosB)^2+(sinA-sinB)^2\end{equation}$

$(PQ)^2=cos^2A-2cosAcosB+cos^2B+sin^2A-2sinAsinB+sin^2B$

Remember the Pythagorean identity

$\begin{equation*}cos^2\theta+sin^2\theta=1\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}(PQ)^2=2-2cosAcosB-2sinAsinB\end{equation}$

Hence

$\begin{equation*}2-2cos(A-B)=2-2cosAcosB-2sinAsinB\end{equation}$

(1) $\begin{equation*}cos(A-B)=cosAcosB+sinAsinB\end{equation*}$

We can then use this identity to find $cos(A+B)$ .

$\begin{equation*}cos(A+B)=cos(A-(-B))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cos(A-(-B))=cos(A)cos(-B)+sinAsin(-B)\end{equation}$

Remember $cos(-B)=cos(B)$ and $sin(-B)=-sin(B)$

$\begin{equation*}cos(A-(-B))=cosAcosB-sinAsinB\end{equation}$

(2) $\begin{equation*}cos(A+B)=cosAcosB-sinAsinB\end{equation*}$

We can also find $sin(A+B)$

Remember, $sin\theta=cos(\frac{\pi}{2}-\theta)$

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+B)=cos(\frac{\pi}{2}-(A+B))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+B)=cos((\frac{\pi}{2}-A)-B)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+B)=cos(\frac{\pi}{2}-A)cosB+sin(\frac{\pi}{2}-A)sinB\end{equation}$

(3) $\begin{equation*}sin(A+B)=sinAcosB+cosAsinB\end{equation*}$

We can use equation $2$ to find $sin(A-B)$

$\begin{equation*}sin(A-B)=sin(A+(-B))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+(-B))=sinAcos(-B)+cosAsin(-B)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+(-B))=sinAcos(B)-cosAsin(B)\end{equation}$

(4) $\begin{equation*}sin(A-B)=sinAcos(B)-cosAsin(B)\end{equation*}$

And we can use both the sine and cosine identities to find $tan(A+B)$

Remember $tan\theta=\frac{sin\theta}{cos\theta}$

$\begin{equation*}tan(A+B)=\frac{sin(A+B)}{cos(A+B)}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}=\frac{sinAcosB+cosAsinB}{cosAcosB-sinAsinB}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}=\frac{sinAcosB+cosAsinB}{cosAcosB-sinAsinB}\times \frac{cosAcosB}{cosAcosB}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}=\frac{\frac{sinAcosB}{cosAcosB}+\frac{cosAsinB}{cosAcosB}}{\frac{cosAcosB}{cosAcosB}+\frac{sinAsinB}{cosAcosB}}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}=\frac{tanA+tanB}{1-tanAtanB}\end{equation}$

(5) $\begin{equation*}tan(A+B)=\frac{tanA+tanB}{1-tanAtanB}\end{equation*}$

and

(6) $\begin{equation*}tan(A-B)=\frac{tanA-tanB}{1+tanAtanB}\end{equation*}$

$\begin{equation*}cos(A\pm B)=cosAcosB\mp sinAsinB\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin(A\pm B)=sinAcosB\pm cosAsinB\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}tan(A \pm B)=\frac{tan A \pm tanB}{1 \mp tanAtanB}\end{equation}$

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Filed under Addition and Subtraction Identities, Identities, Non-Right Trigonometry, Simplifying fractions, Trigonometry, Year 11 Mathematical Methods, Year 11 Specialist Mathematics

Tagged as addition and subtraction trig identities, trig identities

April 21, 2025 · 11:08 am

Area/Geometry Problem

This problem is from The Geometry Forum Problem of the Week June 1996

In triangle ABC, AC=18 and D is the point on AC for which AD=5. Perpendiculars drawn from D to AB and CB have lengths of 4 and 5 respectively. What is the area of triangle ABC?

I put together a diagram (in Geogebra)

Add points P and Q

Triangle APD and triangle DQC are right angled. Using pythagoras, $AP=3$ and $QC=12$

$BQDP$ is a cyclic quadrilateral and $BD$ is the diameter. I am not sure if this is useful, but it is good to notice.

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+B+C)=sin(180)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin((A+C)+B)=sin(A+C)cosB+sinBcos(A+C)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cosB(sinAcosC+sinCcosA)+sinB(cosAcosC-sinAsinC)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cosB(\frac{4}{5}\times\frac{12}{13}+\frac{5}{13}\times\frac{3}{5})+sinB(\frac{3}{5}\times\frac{12}{13}-\frac{4}{5}\times\frac{5}{13})=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cosB(\frac{48}{65}+\frac{15}{65})+sinB(\frac{36}{65}-\frac{20}{65})=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{63}{65}cosB+\frac{16}{65}sinB=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}63cosB+16sinB=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}63+16tanB=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}tanB=\frac{-63}{16}\end{equation}$

If $tanB=\frac{-63}{16}$ then $sinB=\frac{63}{65}$

Now,

$\begin{equation*}\frac{y+12}{sinA}=\frac{18}{sinB}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}y+12=\frac{4}{5}(18)\frac{65}{63}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}y+12=\frac{104}{7}\end{equation}$

Hence the Area is

$\begin{equation*}A=\frac{1}{2}(18)(\frac{104}{7})sinC\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}A=\frac{1}{2}(18)(\frac{104}{7})\frac{5}{13}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}A=\frac{360}{7}=51.43\end{equation}$

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Filed under Area, Finding an area, Geometry, Identities, Non-Right Trigonometry, Pythagoras, Trigonometry

Tagged as area, area of triangles, problem solving

February 4, 2025 · 9:17 am

Differentiating the Tangent Function

Remember $tan(x)=\frac{sin(x)}{cos(x)}$ .

I use the quotient rule to differentiate $f(x)=tan(x)$ .

(1) $\begin{equation*}\frac{d}{dx}(\frac{f(x)}{g(x)})=\frac{f'(x)g(x)-g'(x)f(x)}{[g(x)]^2}\end{equation*}$

If $h(x)=tan(x)=\frac{sin(x)}{cos(x)}$ then from equation $1$

(2) $\begin{equation*}h'(x)=\frac{cos(x)cos(x)-(-sin(x)sin(x))}{[cos(x)]^2}\end{equation*}$

(3) $\begin{equation*}h'(x)=\frac{cos^2(x)+sin^2(x)}{cos^2(x)}\end{equation*}$

Remember the Pythagorean identity

(4) $\begin{equation*}sin^2(x)+cos^2(x)=1\end{equation*}$

Hence

$\begin{equation*}h'(x)=\frac{1}{cos^2(x)}=sec^2(x)\end{equation}$

(5) $\begin{equation*}\frac{d}{dx}tan(x)=sec^2(x)\end{equation*}$

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Filed under Calculus, Differentiation, Differentiation, Identities, Quotient Rule, Trigonometry, Year 12 Mathematical Methods

Tagged as differentiating tan, differentiating trig

February 3, 2025 · 9:11 am

Differentiating Trigonometric Functions

In the last post we looked at two trig limits:

(1) $\begin{equation*}\lim_{x \to 0}\frac{sin(x)}{x}=1\end{equation*}$

(2) $\begin{equation*}\lim_{x \to 0}\frac{1-cos(x)}{x}=0\end{equation*}$

We are going to use these two limits to differentiate sine and cosine functions from first principals.

$\begin{equation*}f(x)=sin(x)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{sin(x+h)-sin(x)}{h}\end{equation}$

Use the trig identity

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+B)=sinAcosB+sinBcosA\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{sin(x)cos(h)+sin(h)cos(x)-sin(x)}{h}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=\lim\limits_{h \to 0}(\frac{sin(x)(cos(h)-1)}{h}+\frac{sin(h)cos(x)}{h})\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=sin(x)\lim\limits_{h \to 0}(\frac{(cos(h)-1)}{h}+cos(x)\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{sin(h)}{h}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=sin(x)\lim\limits_{h \to 0}(\frac{-(-cos(h)+1)}{h}+cos(x)\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{sin(h)}{h}\end{equation}$

Evaluate the limits

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=sin(x)\times 0+cos(x)\times (1)=cos(x)\end{equation}$

Hence, $\frac{d}{dx}sin(x)=cos(x)$ .

Now we are going to do the same for $f(x)=cos(x)$ .

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{cos(x+h)-cos(x)}{h}\end{equation}$

Use the trigonometric identity

$\begin{equation*}cos(A+B)=cosAcosB-sinAsinB\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{cos(x)cos(h)-sin(x)sin(h)-cos(x)}{h}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{cos(x)(cos(h)-1)-sin(x)sin(h)}{h}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=cos(x)\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{-(1-cos(h))}{h}-sin(x)\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{sin(h)}{h}\end{equation}$

Evaluate the limits

$\begin{equation*}f'(x)=cos(x)\times(0)-sin(x)\times (1)=-sin(x)\end{equation}$

Hence $\frac{d}{dx} cos(x)=-sin(x)$

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Filed under Calculus, Differentiation, Identities, Trigonometry, Year 12 Mathematical Methods

Tagged as differentiation, trig differentiation, trig identities, trig limits, trigonometric differentiation, trigonometric identities, trigonometric limits

February 2, 2025 · 7:46 am

Trigonometric Limits

$\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{sin(x)}{x}=?$

Remember $cos(x)=\frac{OA}{OB}=\frac{OA}{1}$ , hence $OA=cos(x)$ and the co-ordinate of $A$ is $(cos(x), 0)$ .

$sin(x)=\frac{AB}{OB}=\frac{AB}{1}$ , hence $AB=sin(x)$ and the co-ordinate of $B$ is $(cos(x), sin(x))$

And from the definition of $tan(x)$ we know $D$ is the point $(1, tan(x))$

Consider the areas of triangle $OAB$ , sector $OBC$ , and triangle $OCD$ .

We know from inspection of the above diagram that

Area $OAB<$ Area $OCB<$ Area $OCD$

Which means,

$\frac{1}{2}b_1 h_1<\frac{1}{2}r^2x<\frac{1}{2}b_2 h_2$

We can ignore all of the halves.

$cos(x)sin(x)<x<(1)tan(x)$

Remember $tan(x)=\frac{sin(x)}{cos(x)}$

$cos(x)sin(x)<x<\frac{sin(x)}{cos(x)}$

Divide everything by $sin(x)$ (as we are in the first quadrant we know $sin(x)>0$ , so we don’t need to worry about the inequality)

$cos(x)<\frac{x}{sin(x)}<\frac{1}{cos(x)}$

Invert everything and change the direction of the inequalities)

$\frac{1}{cos(x)}>\frac{sin(x)}{x}>cos(x)$

I am going to rewrite it as follows

$cos(x)<\frac{sin(x)}{x}<\frac{1}{cos(x)}$

because I like to use less thans rather than greater thans.

Now what happens as $x$ tends to $0$ ?

$cos(0)=1$

$1<\frac{sin(x)}{x}<\frac{1}{1}$

Hence by the squeeze theorem $\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{sin(x)}{x}=1$

Now we know this limit, we are going to use it to find $\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{1-cos(x)}{x}$

Multiply by $\frac{1+cos(x)}{1+cos(x)}$

$\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{1-cos(x)}{x}\times \frac{1+cos(x)}{1+cos(x)}$

$\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{1-cos^2(x)}{x(cos(x)+1)}$

$\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{sin^2(x)}{x(cos(x)+1)}$

$\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{sin(x)}{x}\times sin(x)(cos(x)+1)}$

$\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{sin(x)}{x}\times \lim\limits_{x \to 0}sin(x)(cos(x)+1)$

If we evaluate the limits,

$(1)(sin(0)(cos(0)+1)=1\times 0 \times 2=0$

Hence, $\lim\limits_{x \to 0}\frac{1-cos(x)}{x}=0$

In the next post we are going to use these limits to differentiate sine and cosine functions.

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Filed under Area, Area of Triangles (Sine), Calculus, Identities, Trigonometry, Year 12 Mathematical Methods

Tagged as trig limits, trigonometric limits

December 16, 2024 · 9:19 am

Interesting Sum

$S=\sum_{n=1}^\infty (tan^{-1}(\frac{2}{n^2}))$ , find $S$ .

I came across this sum in An Imaginary Tale by Nahin and I was fascinated.

Let $tan(\alpha)=n+1$ and $tan(\beta)=n-1$ .

tan(\alpha-\beta)=\frac{tan(\alpha)-tan(\beta)}{1+tan(\alpha)tan(\beta)}

tan(\alpha-\beta)=\frac{(n+1)-(n-1)}{1+(n+1)(n-1)}

Which means,

$\begin{equation*}S=\sum_{n=1}^\infty(tan^{-1}(n+1)-tan^{-1}(n-1))\end{equation}$

Let’s try a few partial sums

$S_4=tan^{-1}(2)-tan^{-1}(0)+tan^{-1}(3)-tan^{-1}(1)+tan^{-1}(4)-tan^{-1}(2)+tan^{-1}(5)-tan^{-1}(3)$

$S_4=-tan^{-1}(0)+-tan^{-1}(1)+tan^{-1}(4)+tan^{-1}(5)$

$S_6=tan^{-1}(2)-tan^{-1}(0)+tan^{-1}(3)-tan^{-1}(1)+tan^{-1}(4)-tan^{-1}(2)+tan^{-1}(5)-tan^{-1}(3)+tan^{-1}(6)-tan^{-1}(4)+tan^{-1}(7)-tan^{-1}(5)$

$S_6=-tan^{-1}(0)+-tan^{-1}(1)+tan^{-1}(6)+tan^{-1}(7)$

Hence, $S_N=-tan^{-1}(0)+-tan^{-1}(1)+tan^{-1}(N)+tan^{-1}(N+1)$

$S_N=-\frac{\pi}{4}-0+tan^{-1}(N)+tan^{-1}(N+1)$

What happens as $N\rightarrow \infty$ ?

$\lim\limits_{N\to \infty}\ S_N=-\frac{\pi}{4}+\frac{\pi}{2}+\frac{\pi}{2}=\frac{3\pi}{4}$

Because we know $tan(\frac{\pi}{2})$ is undefined.

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