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  • Oct 28, 2007, 09:00 PM
    stateline
    trigonometric identities
    an equivalent expression for cos^4 (x) in a function value of x, 2x, or 4x only to the first power.
    Does this work?

    cos^4 (x)=[(1+cos2x)/(2)][(1+cos2x)/(2)]
    =(1+2cos2x+cos2xcos2x)/(4)

    I'm really confused by this problem can you please help me
    thank you
  • Oct 29, 2007, 10:51 AM
    ebaines
    I think you are 90% of the way there. You corectly used the identity:

    cos^2(x) = (cos2x+1)/2

    Your last expression has the term cos(2x)cos(2x), which is cos^2(2X). So you're not quite done - you want to convert cos^2(2x) into something that does not have a power in it. All you need to do is use the same identity as above, such that cos^2(2x) = (cos2x+1)/2. You should be able to take it from there.

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