Trigonometry Examples

$\cos (2 x) = \frac{1}{2}$

Step 1

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

$2 x = \arccos (\frac{1}{2})$

Step 2

Simplify the right side.

Tap for more steps...

Step 2.1

The exact value of $\arccos (\frac{1}{2})$ is $60$ .

$2 x = 60$

Step 3

Divide each term in $2 x = 60$ by $2$ and simplify.

Tap for more steps...

Step 3.1

Divide each term in $2 x = 60$ by $2$ .

$\frac{2 x}{2} = \frac{60}{2}$

Step 3.2

Simplify the left side.

Tap for more steps...

Step 3.2.1

Cancel the common factor of $2$ .

Tap for more steps...

Step 3.2.1.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{2 x}{2} = \frac{60}{2}$

Step 3.2.1.2

Divide $x$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{60}{2}$

Step 3.3

Simplify the right side.

Tap for more steps...

Step 3.3.1

Divide $60$ by $2$ .

$x = 30$

Step 4

The cosine function is positive in the first and fourth quadrants. To find the second solution, subtract the reference angle from $360$ to find the solution in the fourth quadrant.

$2 x = 360 - 60$

Step 5

Solve for $x$ .

Tap for more steps...

Step 5.1

Subtract $60$ from $360$ .

$2 x = 300$

Step 5.2

Divide each term in $2 x = 300$ by $2$ and simplify.

Tap for more steps...

Step 5.2.1

Divide each term in $2 x = 300$ by $2$ .

$\frac{2 x}{2} = \frac{300}{2}$

Step 5.2.2

Simplify the left side.

Tap for more steps...

Step 5.2.2.1

Cancel the common factor of $2$ .

Tap for more steps...

Step 5.2.2.1.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{2 x}{2} = \frac{300}{2}$

Step 5.2.2.1.2

Divide $x$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{300}{2}$

Step 5.2.3

Simplify the right side.

Tap for more steps...

Step 5.2.3.1

Divide $300$ by $2$ .

$x = 150$

Step 6

Find the period of $\cos (2 x)$ .

Tap for more steps...

Step 6.1

The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{360}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{360}{| b |}$

Step 6.2

Replace $b$ with $2$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{360}{| 2 |}$

Step 6.3

The absolute value is the distance between a number and zero. The distance between $0$ and $2$ is $2$ .

$\frac{360}{2}$

Step 6.4

Divide $360$ by $2$ .

$180$

Step 7

The period of the $\cos (2 x)$ function is $180$ so values will repeat every $180$ degrees in both directions.

$x = 30 + 180 n, 150 + 180 n$ , for any integer $n$