Friday 17 February 2017

trigonometry - Prove using induction: $prod_{k=1}^ncosfrac{x}{2^k}=frac{sin x}{2^nsinfrac{x}{2^n}}$



I'm supposed to prove by induction the equality $$\prod_{k=1}^n\cos\frac{x}{2^k}=\frac{\sin x}{2^n\sin\frac{x}{2^n}}$$ I've shown the base case for $n=1$, assumed it is valid for $n$ then tried extending for $n+1$. I've used trigonometric identities to obtain the expression $$\left(2-2\cos\frac{x}{2^n}\right)\cos^2\frac{x}{2^k}=\sin ^2\frac{x}{2^k}$$ and it seems to me that I'm close, but I'm stuck here. Any help please?


Answer



To get the proof consider the identity $\cos(x)\sin(x) = \frac{1}{2}\sin(2x)$.
Now the induction step leads to

$$
\prod^{n+1}_{k=1} \cos(x/2^k) = \cos(x/2^{n+1}) \prod^{n}_{k=1} \cos(x/2^k).
$$
On the last term you use the induction hypothesis.
Using the proposed equality the first term is equal to
$$
\cos(x/2^{n+1}) = \frac{\sin(x/2^n)}{2\sin(x/2^{n+1})}
$$
Simplifying should yield the result.


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