Algebra Examples

$6 \tan^{2} (x) - 2 = 4$

Step 1

Move all terms not containing $\tan (x)$ to the right side of the equation.

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Step 1.1

Add $2$ to both sides of the equation.

$6 \tan^{2} (x) = 4 + 2$

Step 1.2

Add $4$ and $2$ .

$6 \tan^{2} (x) = 6$

Step 2

Divide each term in $6 \tan^{2} (x) = 6$ by $6$ and simplify.

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Step 2.1

Divide each term in $6 \tan^{2} (x) = 6$ by $6$ .

$\frac{6 \tan^{2} (x)}{6} = \frac{6}{6}$

Step 2.2

Simplify the left side.

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Step 2.2.1

Cancel the common factor of $6$ .

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Step 2.2.1.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{6 \tan^{2} (x)}{6} = \frac{6}{6}$

Step 2.2.1.2

Divide $\tan^{2} (x)$ by $1$ .

$\tan^{2} (x) = \frac{6}{6}$

Step 2.3

Simplify the right side.

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Step 2.3.1

Divide $6$ by $6$ .

$\tan^{2} (x) = 1$

Step 3

Take the specified root of both sides of the equation to eliminate the exponent on the left side.

$\tan (x) = \pm \sqrt{1}$

Step 4

Any root of $1$ is $1$ .

$\tan (x) = \pm 1$

Step 5

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

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Step 5.1

First, use the positive value of the $\pm$ to find the first solution.

$\tan (x) = 1$

Step 5.2

Next, use the negative value of the $\pm$ to find the second solution.

$\tan (x) = - 1$

Step 5.3

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

$\tan (x) = 1, - 1$

Step 6

Set up each of the solutions to solve for $x$ .

$\tan (x) = 1$

$\tan (x) = - 1$

Step 7

Solve for $x$ in $\tan (x) = 1$ .

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Step 7.1

Take the inverse tangent of both sides of the equation to extract $x$ from inside the tangent.

$x = \arctan (1)$

Step 7.2

Simplify the right side.

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Step 7.2.1

The exact value of $\arctan (1)$ is $\frac{π}{4}$ .

$x = \frac{π}{4}$

Step 7.3

The tangent function is positive in the first and third quadrants. To find the second solution, add the reference angle from $π$ to find the solution in the fourth quadrant.

$x = π + \frac{π}{4}$

Step 7.4

Simplify $π + \frac{π}{4}$ .

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Step 7.4.1

To write $π$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{4}{4}$ .

$x = π \cdot \frac{4}{4} + \frac{π}{4}$

Step 7.4.2

Combine fractions.

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Step 7.4.2.1

Combine $π$ and $\frac{4}{4}$ .

$x = \frac{π \cdot 4}{4} + \frac{π}{4}$

Step 7.4.2.2

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$x = \frac{π \cdot 4 + π}{4}$

Step 7.4.3

Simplify the numerator.

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Step 7.4.3.1

Move $4$ to the left of $π$ .

$x = \frac{4 \cdot π + π}{4}$

Step 7.4.3.2

Add $4 π$ and $π$ .

$x = \frac{5 π}{4}$

Step 7.5

Find the period of $\tan (x)$ .

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Step 7.5.1

The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{π}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{π}{| b |}$

Step 7.5.2

Replace $b$ with $1$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{π}{| 1 |}$

Step 7.5.3

The absolute value is the distance between a number and zero. The distance between $0$ and $1$ is $1$ .

$\frac{π}{1}$

Step 7.5.4

Divide $π$ by $1$ .

$π$

Step 7.6

The period of the $\tan (x)$ function is $π$ so values will repeat every $π$ radians in both directions.

$x = \frac{π}{4} + π n, \frac{5 π}{4} + π n$ , for any integer $n$

Step 8

Solve for $x$ in $\tan (x) = - 1$ .

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Step 8.1

Take the inverse tangent of both sides of the equation to extract $x$ from inside the tangent.

$x = \arctan (- 1)$

Step 8.2

Simplify the right side.

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Step 8.2.1

The exact value of $\arctan (- 1)$ is $- \frac{π}{4}$ .

$x = - \frac{π}{4}$

Step 8.3

The tangent function is negative in the second and fourth quadrants. To find the second solution, subtract the reference angle from $π$ to find the solution in the third quadrant.

$x = - \frac{π}{4} - π$

Step 8.4

Simplify the expression to find the second solution.

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Step 8.4.1

Add $2 π$ to $- \frac{π}{4} - π$ .

$x = - \frac{π}{4} - π + 2 π$

Step 8.4.2

The resulting angle of $\frac{3 π}{4}$ is positive and coterminal with $- \frac{π}{4} - π$ .

$x = \frac{3 π}{4}$

Step 8.5

Find the period of $\tan (x)$ .

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Step 8.5.1

The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{π}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{π}{| b |}$

Step 8.5.2

Replace $b$ with $1$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{π}{| 1 |}$

Step 8.5.3

The absolute value is the distance between a number and zero. The distance between $0$ and $1$ is $1$ .

$\frac{π}{1}$

Step 8.5.4

Divide $π$ by $1$ .

$π$

Step 8.6

Add $π$ to every negative angle to get positive angles.

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Step 8.6.1

Add $π$ to $- \frac{π}{4}$ to find the positive angle.

$- \frac{π}{4} + π$

Step 8.6.2

To write $π$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{4}{4}$ .

$π \cdot \frac{4}{4} - \frac{π}{4}$

Step 8.6.3

Combine fractions.

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Step 8.6.3.1

Combine $π$ and $\frac{4}{4}$ .

$\frac{π \cdot 4}{4} - \frac{π}{4}$

Step 8.6.3.2

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$\frac{π \cdot 4 - π}{4}$

Step 8.6.4

Simplify the numerator.

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Step 8.6.4.1

Move $4$ to the left of $π$ .

$\frac{4 \cdot π - π}{4}$

Step 8.6.4.2

Subtract $π$ from $4 π$ .

$\frac{3 π}{4}$

Step 8.6.5

List the new angles.

$x = \frac{3 π}{4}$

Step 8.7

The period of the $\tan (x)$ function is $π$ so values will repeat every $π$ radians in both directions.

$x = \frac{3 π}{4} + π n, \frac{3 π}{4} + π n$ , for any integer $n$

Step 9

List all of the solutions.

$x = \frac{π}{4} + π n, \frac{5 π}{4} + π n, \frac{3 π}{4} + π n, \frac{3 π}{4} + π n$ , for any integer $n$

Step 10

Consolidate the answers.

$x = \frac{π}{4} + \frac{π n}{2}$ , for any integer $n$