Precalculus Examples

$\tan (\frac{x}{2}) = 0$

Step 1

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

$\frac{x}{2} = \arctan (0)$

Step 2

Simplify the right side.

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Step 2.1

The exact value of $\arctan (0)$ is $0$ .

$\frac{x}{2} = 0$

Step 3

Set the numerator equal to zero.

$x = 0$

Step 4

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.

$\frac{x}{2} = π + 0$

Step 5

Solve for $x$ .

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Step 5.1

Multiply both sides of the equation by $2$ .

$2 \frac{x}{2} = 2 (π + 0)$

Step 5.2

Simplify both sides of the equation.

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Step 5.2.1

Simplify the left side.

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Step 5.2.1.1

Cancel the common factor of $2$ .

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Step 5.2.1.1.1

Cancel the common factor.

$2 \frac{x}{2} = 2 (π + 0)$

Step 5.2.1.1.2

Rewrite the expression.

$x = 2 (π + 0)$

Step 5.2.2

Simplify the right side.

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Step 5.2.2.1

Add $π$ and $0$ .

$x = 2 π$

Step 6

Find the period of $\tan (\frac{x}{2})$ .

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Step 6.1

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

$\frac{π}{| b |}$

Step 6.2

Replace $b$ with $\frac{1}{2}$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{π}{| \frac{1}{2} |}$

Step 6.3

$\frac{1}{2}$ is approximately $0.5$ which is positive so remove the absolute value

$\frac{π}{\frac{1}{2}}$

Step 6.4

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$π \cdot 2$

Step 6.5

Move $2$ to the left of $π$ .

$2 π$

Step 7

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

$x = 2 π n, 2 π + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

Step 8

Consolidate the answers.

$x = 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$