View Full Version : (cos x/sec x)-(cos x/tan^2 x)= cot^2 x?
bellatrix
Nov 25, 2010, 02:50 AM
Verifying/proving of the trigonometric identities
lemon14
Nov 25, 2010, 07:02 AM
I looked upon it, but I think that it's something wrong with the exercise.
\frac{\cos x}{\sec x} - \frac{\cos x}{\tan ^2 x}=\cot ^2 x
\sec x= \frac{1}{\cos x}
\frac{\cos x}{{1}{\cos x}} - \frac{\cos x}{{\sin ^2 x}{\cos ^2 x}}=
\cos ^2 x - \frac{\cos ^3 x}{\sin ^2 x}=
\frac{\cos ^2 x \sin ^2 x - \cos ^3 x}{\sin ^2 x}=
\frac{\cos ^2 x (\sin ^2 x - \cos x)}{\sin ^2 x}=
\frac{\cos ^2 x}{\sin ^2 x}= \cot ^2 x
\cot ^2 x (\sin ^2 - \cos x)
if there had been \sin ^ 2 x + \cos ^2 x instead of \sin ^2 x - \cos x it would have been true, but maybe I did some mistakes. On the whole, the idea is to use the formulas and calculate.
galactus
Nov 25, 2010, 07:57 AM
This is not a valid identity.
bellatrix
Nov 25, 2010, 09:21 PM
I also came to that answer and didn't get a valid identity, I think there is something wrong in the given, thanks anyway!