Thursday, 30 April 2015

algebra precalculus - If $450^circ



The problem says:





If 450<α<540 and cotα=724, calculate cosα2




I solved it in the following way: 724=1+cos2α1cos2α49576=1+cos2α1cos2α625cos2α=5272cos2α1=527625cosα=2425, therefore, cosα2=124252=150=210. But there is not such an answer:




A) 0.6




B) 45



C) 45



D) 0.6



E) 0.96




I have checked the evaluating process several times. While I believe that my answer is correct and there is a mistake in the choices, I want to hear from you.



Answer



72242=1+cos2α1cos2α 72(1cosα)=242(1+cosα) 7272cos2α=242+242cos2α 72242=(72+242)cos2α=252cos2α 527=625cos2α.



The missing negative sign on the LHS of the above line is your first error.



Your second error is writing cosα2=1+cosα2. We have |cosα2|=1+cosα2..... If 450o<α<340o then 225o<α2<270o, implying cosα2<0.



In general if cotx=ab then the proportion of cos2x to sin2x is a2 to b2, so let cos2x=a2y and sin2x=b2y. Since 1=cos2x+sin2x, we have y=a2+b2, so cos2x=a2a2+b2 and sin2x=b2a2+b2 and therefore |cosx|=|a|a2+b2 and |sinx|=|b|a2+b2.



So if cotα=724 and cosα<0 then cosα=772+242=725.



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