Precalculus Examples

$\cos (x) = - \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}$

Step 1

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

$x = \arccos (- \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2})$

Step 2

Simplify the right side.

Tap for more steps...

Step 2.1

The exact value of $\arccos (- \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2})$ is $\frac{5 π}{6}$ .

$x = \frac{5 π}{6}$

Step 3

The cosine function is negative in the second and third quadrants. To find the second solution, subtract the reference angle from $2 π$ to find the solution in the third quadrant.

$x = 2 π - \frac{5 π}{6}$

Step 4

Simplify $2 π - \frac{5 π}{6}$ .

Tap for more steps...

Step 4.1

To write $2 π$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{6}{6}$ .

$x = 2 π \cdot \frac{6}{6} - \frac{5 π}{6}$

Step 4.2

Combine fractions.

Tap for more steps...

Step 4.2.1

Combine $2 π$ and $\frac{6}{6}$ .

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 6}{6} - \frac{5 π}{6}$

Step 4.2.2

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 6 - 5 π}{6}$

Step 4.3

Simplify the numerator.

Tap for more steps...

Step 4.3.1

Multiply $6$ by $2$ .

$x = \frac{12 π - 5 π}{6}$

Step 4.3.2

Subtract $5 π$ from $12 π$ .

$x = \frac{7 π}{6}$

Step 5

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

Tap for more steps...

Step 5.1

The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{2 π}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{2 π}{| b |}$

Step 5.2

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

$\frac{2 π}{| 1 |}$

Step 5.3

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

$\frac{2 π}{1}$

Step 5.4

Divide $2 π$ by $1$ .

$2 π$

Step 6

The period of the $\cos (x)$ function is $2 π$ so values will repeat every $2 π$ radians in both directions.

$x = \frac{5 π}{6} + 2 π n, \frac{7 π}{6} + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

Step 7