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    Calculus I - Solving Trig Equations

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    Adriano Passos
    The document discusses solving trigonometric equations and provides examples of solving equations like 2cos(t)=√3 and 2sin(5x)=-√3. It notes that trig equations won't always reduce to standard angles and may require a calculator to solve.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Calculus I - Solving Trig Equations

    Uploaded by

    Adriano Passos
    38 views2 pages
    The document discusses solving trigonometric equations and provides examples of solving equations like 2cos(t)=√3 and 2sin(5x)=-√3. It notes that trig equations won't always reduce to standard angles and may require a calculator to solve.

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    The document discusses solving trigonometric equations and provides examples of solving equations like 2cos(t)=√3 and 2sin(5x)=-√3. It notes that trig equations won't always reduce to standard angles and may require a calculator to solve.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    38 views2 pages

    Calculus I - Solving Trig Equations

    Uploaded by

    Adriano Passos
    The document discusses solving trigonometric equations and provides examples of solving equations like 2cos(t)=√3 and 2sin(5x)=-√3. It notes that trig equations won't always reduce to standard angles and may require a calculator to solve.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    2/28/23, 8:55 AM Calculus I - Solving Trig Equations

    Paul's Online Notes


    Home / Calculus I / Review / Solving Trig Equations

    Section 1.4 : Solving Trig Equations


    In this section we will take a look at solving trig equations. This is something that you will be
    asked to do on a fairly regular basis in many classes.

    Let’s just jump into the examples and see how to solve trig equations.

    Example 1 Solve 2 cos(t) = √3 .

    Show Solution 

    Now, in a calculus class this is not a typical trig equation that we’ll be asked to solve. A
    more typical example is the next one.

    Example 2 Solve 2 cos(t) = √3 on [−2π, 2π].

    Show Solution 

    So, let’s see if you’ve got all this down.

    Example 3 Solve 2 sin(5x) = −√3 on [−π, 2π].

    Show Solution 

    Let's work another example.

    3π 3π
    Example 4 Solve sin(2x) = − cos(2x) on [− , ] .
    2 2

    Show Solution 

    Before moving on we need to address one issue about the previous example. The solution
    method used there is not the “standard” solution method. Because the second angle is just
    π plus the first and if we added π onto the second angle we’d be back at the line
    representing the first angle the more standard solution method is to just add πn onto the
    first angle to get,

    https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcI/TrigEquations.aspx 1/2
    2/28/23, 8:55 AM Calculus I - Solving Trig Equations

    3π
    2x = + πn, n = 0, ±1, ±2, …
    4

    Then dividing by 2 to get the full set of solutions,

    3π πn
    x = + , n = 0, ±1, ±2, …
    8 2

    This set of solutions is identical to the set of solutions we got in the example (we’ll leave it
    to you to plug in some n’s and verify that). So, why did we not use the method in the
    previous example? Simple. The method in the previous example more closely mirrors the
    solution method for cosine and sine (i.e. they both, generally, give two sets of angles) and
    so for students that aren’t comfortable with solving trig equations this gives a “consistent”
    solution method.

    Let’s work one more example so that we can make a point that needs to be understood
    when solving some trig equations.

    Example 5 Solve cos(3x) = 2 .

    Show Solution 

    In this section we solved some simple trig equations. There are more complicated trig
    equations that we can solve so don’t leave this section with the feeling that there is nothing
    harder out there in the world to solve. In fact, we’ll see at least one of the more complicated
    problems in the next section. Also, every one of these problems came down to solutions
    involving one of the “common” or “standard” angles. Most trig equations won’t come down
    to one of those and will in fact need a calculator to solve. The next section is devoted to this
    kind of problem.

    © 2003 - 2023 Paul Dawkins Page Last Modified : 11/16/2022

    https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcI/TrigEquations.aspx 2/2

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