Apply Basic and Definitional Identities - Trigonometry

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Question

Which of the following identities is incorrect?

Answer

The true identity is $\small \cos(-x)=\cos(x)$ because cosine is an even function.

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Question

Which of the following trigonometric identities is INCORRECT?

Answer

Cosine and sine are not reciprocal functions.

$sin (x) = \frac{1}{csc (x)}$ and $cos (x) = \frac{1}{sec (x)}$

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Question

Using the trigonometric identities prove whether the following is valid:

$\frac{\csc^{2}A}{\sec^{2}A} = \cot^{2}A$

Answer

We begin with the left hand side of the equation and utilize basic trigonometric identities, beginning with converting the inverse functions to their corresponding base functions:

$\frac{\frac{1}{\sin^{2}A}}{\frac{1}{\cos^{2}A}} = \cot^{2}A$

Next we rewrite the fractional division in order to simplify the equation:

$\frac{1}{\sin^{2}A}\div\frac{1}{\cos^{2}A} = \cot^{2}A$

In fractional division we multiply by the reciprocal as follows:

$\frac{1}{\sin^{2}A}\times \cos^{2}A = \cot^{2}A$

If we reduce the fraction using basic identities we see that the equivalence is proven:

$\frac{\cos^{2}A}{\sin^{2}A} = \cot^{2}A$

$\cot^{2}A = \cot^{2}A$

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Question

Which of the following is the best answer for $cos^2(\theta)$ ?

Answer

Write the Pythagorean identity.

$sin^2(\theta)+cos^2(\theta)=1$

Substract $sin^2(\theta)$ from both sides.

$cos^2(\theta)=1-sin^2(\theta)$

The other answers are incorrect.

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Question

State $\tan x$ in terms of sine and cosine.

Answer

The definition of tangent is sine divided by cosine.

$\tan x=\frac{\sin x}{\cos x}$

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Question

Simplify.

$\sin(-x)\cos(-x)\tan(-x)$

Answer

Using these basic identities:

$\sin(-x)=-\sin x$

$\cos(-x)=\cos(x)$

$\tan(-x)=-\tan x$

we find the original expression to be

$(-\sin x)(\cos x)(-\tan x)$

which simplifies to

$\sin x\cos x\tan x$ .

Further simplifying:

$\sin x\cos x\frac{\sin x}{\cos x}$

The cosines cancel, giving us

$\sin ^2 x$

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Question

Express $\frac{1}{\sec x \csc x \tan x}$ in terms of only sines and cosines.

Answer

The correct answer is $\cos^2 x$ . Begin by substituting $\frac{1}{\sec x}=\cos x$ , $\frac{1}{\csc x}=\sin x$ , and $\frac{1}{\tan x}=\frac{\cos x}{\sin x}$ . This gives us:

$\frac{1}{\sec x\csc x\tan x}=\frac{\cos x\sin x\cos x}{\sin x}=\cos^2 x$ .

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Question

Express $\sec x\tan x+\frac{\cot x}{\csc x}$ in terms of only sines and cosines.

Answer

To solve this problem, use the identities $\sec x =\frac{1}{\cos x}$ , $\tan x=\frac{\sin x}{\cos x}$ , $\cot x =\frac{\cos x}{\sin x}$ , and $\frac{1}{\csc x}=\sin x$ . Then we get

$\sec x\tan x+\frac{\cot x}{\csc x}$

$=\frac{1}{\cos x}\cdot \frac{\sin x}{\cos x}+\sin x\cdot \frac{\cos x}{\sin x}$

$=\frac{\sin x}{\cos^2 x}+\cos x$

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