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View Full Version : Subtract and simplify


dejalisco5
May 14, 2008, 10:46 AM
1+sin x/cos x - cos x/sin x - 1

galactus
May 14, 2008, 10:57 AM
The trick is to make the denominators the same as if you were adding any ol' fraction.

\frac{(sin(x)-1)}{(sin(x)-1)}\cdot\frac{(1+sin(x))}{cos(x)}-\frac{cos(x)}{(sin(x)-1)}\cdot\frac{cos(x)}{cos(x)}

Do this and expanding, we get \frac{sin^{2}(x)-1-cos^{2}(x)}{cos(x)(sin(x)-1)}

But sin^{2}(x)-1=-cos^{2}(x)

Can you continue and whittle away at it some more?