Precalculus Examples

$\cos^{2} (4 x) - \sin^{2} (4 x)$

Step 1

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = \cos (4 x)$ and $b = \sin (4 x)$ .

$(\cos (4 x) + \sin (4 x)) (\cos (4 x) - \sin (4 x))$

Step 2

Expand $(\cos (4 x) + \sin (4 x)) (\cos (4 x) - \sin (4 x))$ using the FOIL Method.

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Step 2.1

Apply the distributive property.

$\cos (4 x) (\cos (4 x) - \sin (4 x)) + \sin (4 x) (\cos (4 x) - \sin (4 x))$

Step 2.2

Apply the distributive property.

$\cos (4 x) \cos (4 x) + \cos (4 x) (- \sin (4 x)) + \sin (4 x) (\cos (4 x) - \sin (4 x))$

Step 2.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\cos (4 x) \cos (4 x) + \cos (4 x) (- \sin (4 x)) + \sin (4 x) \cos (4 x) + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$

Step 3

Simplify terms.

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Step 3.1

Combine the opposite terms in $\cos (4 x) \cos (4 x) + \cos (4 x) (- \sin (4 x)) + \sin (4 x) \cos (4 x) + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$ .

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Step 3.1.1

Reorder the factors in the terms $\cos (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$ and $\sin (4 x) \cos (4 x)$ .

$\cos (4 x) \cos (4 x) - \cos (4 x) \sin (4 x) + \cos (4 x) \sin (4 x) + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$

Step 3.1.2

Add $- \cos (4 x) \sin (4 x)$ and $\cos (4 x) \sin (4 x)$ .

$\cos (4 x) \cos (4 x) + 0 + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$

Step 3.1.3

Add $\cos (4 x) \cos (4 x)$ and $0$ .

$\cos (4 x) \cos (4 x) + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$

Step 3.2

Simplify each term.

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Step 3.2.1

Multiply $\cos (4 x) \cos (4 x)$ .

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Step 3.2.1.1

Raise $\cos (4 x)$ to the power of $1$ .

$\cos^{1} (4 x) \cos (4 x) + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$

Step 3.2.1.2

Raise $\cos (4 x)$ to the power of $1$ .

$\cos^{1} (4 x) \cos^{1} (4 x) + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$

Step 3.2.1.3

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

${\cos (4 x)}^{1 + 1} + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$

Step 3.2.1.4

Add $1$ and $1$ .

$\cos^{2} (4 x) + \sin (4 x) (- \sin (4 x))$

Step 3.2.2

Rewrite using the commutative property of multiplication.

$\cos^{2} (4 x) - \sin (4 x) \sin (4 x)$

Step 3.2.3

Multiply $- \sin (4 x) \sin (4 x)$ .

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Step 3.2.3.1

Raise $\sin (4 x)$ to the power of $1$ .

$\cos^{2} (4 x) - (\sin^{1} (4 x) \sin (4 x))$

Step 3.2.3.2

Raise $\sin (4 x)$ to the power of $1$ .

$\cos^{2} (4 x) - (\sin^{1} (4 x) \sin^{1} (4 x))$

Step 3.2.3.3

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

$\cos^{2} (4 x) - {\sin (4 x)}^{1 + 1}$

Step 3.2.3.4

Add $1$ and $1$ .

$\cos^{2} (4 x) - \sin^{2} (4 x)$

Step 4

Apply the cosine double-angle identity.

$\cos (2 (4 x))$

Step 5

Multiply $4$ by $2$ .

$\cos (8 x)$