Homework Help: trigonometry

Posted by v on Monday, December 3, 2012 at 11:52pm.

can i use factoring to simplify this trig identity?
the problem is sinx + cotx * cosx i know the answer is cscx and i know how to get it but i want to know if i can do factoring to get it bc i tried to but it wont give me the answer .
this is the step i went through:
1) sinx + cotx * cosx turns into sinx +(cosx/sinx)*cosx
2) i try to factor out sinx so that i would get sinx(1+ cosx * cosx)
3) that left me with sinx(1+cos^(2) x) that's where i im lost can anyone enlighten me plz

trigonometry - Steve, Monday, December 3, 2012 at 11:54pm
cot = cos/sin, so you have

sin + cos^2/sin
= (sin^2+cos^2)/sin
= 1/sin
= csc
trigonometry - v, Monday, December 3, 2012 at 11:56pm
im well aware of that steve thank you for answering but i really wanted to know was is it at all possible to use factoring to solve this like i have up there
trigonometry - Steve, Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 12:17am
I don't see any way to use factoring. You don't in fact come up with

sin(1+cos^2)

because you have that pesky 1/sin under the cos^2.

If you try to fractor out the sin, you get

sin(1+cos^2/sin^2)

and again you end up with sin^2+cos^2 on top.
trigonometry - Reiny, Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 7:51am
We could do some " silly" factoring

sinx + (cosx/sinx)(cosx)
= sinx + cos^2 x (sinx)^-1
= (sinx)^-1 (sin^2 x + cos^2 x)
= (sinx)^-1
= 1/sinx
= cscx

Answer this Question

Related Questions

Math - Verify the identity . (cscX-cotX)^2=1-cosX/1+cosX _______ sorry i cant ...
Pre-calc - prove the identity: (cosx)(tanx + sinx cotx)=sinx+cos(squared)x i ...
drwls - My previous question: Verify that (secx/sinx)*(cotx/cscx)=cscx is an ...
trig - express this in sinx (1/ cscx + cotx )+ (1/cscx- cotx) i got 2sinx is ...
Math - Im really struggling with these proving identities problems can somebody ...
Trigonometry. - ( tanx/1-cotx )+ (cotx/1-tanx)= (1+secxcscx) Good one! ...
Trigonometry Check - Simplify #3: [cosx-sin(90-x)sinx]/[cosx-cos(180-x)tan...
Trigonometry - Simplify the expression using trig identities: 1. (sin4x - cos4x...
Math - I'm only aloud to manipulate one side of the problem and the end ...
math - 1. Prove the identity:cosx/1-tanx+sinx/1-cotx=sinx+cosx 2.Prove ...

For Further Reading

First Name:
School Subject:
Answer: