Trigonometry Examples

$\cos^{2} (θ) - \sin^{2} (θ)$

Step 1

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

$(\cos (θ) + \sin (θ)) (\cos (θ) - \sin (θ))$

Step 2

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

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Step 2.1

Apply the distributive property.

$\cos (θ) (\cos (θ) - \sin (θ)) + \sin (θ) (\cos (θ) - \sin (θ))$

Step 2.2

Apply the distributive property.

$\cos (θ) \cos (θ) + \cos (θ) (- \sin (θ)) + \sin (θ) (\cos (θ) - \sin (θ))$

Step 2.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\cos (θ) \cos (θ) + \cos (θ) (- \sin (θ)) + \sin (θ) \cos (θ) + \sin (θ) (- \sin (θ))$

Step 3

Simplify terms.

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Step 3.1

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

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Step 3.1.1

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

$\cos (θ) \cos (θ) - \cos (θ) \sin (θ) + \cos (θ) \sin (θ) + \sin (θ) (- \sin (θ))$

Step 3.1.2

Add $- \cos (θ) \sin (θ)$ and $\cos (θ) \sin (θ)$ .

$\cos (θ) \cos (θ) + 0 + \sin (θ) (- \sin (θ))$

Step 3.1.3

Add $\cos (θ) \cos (θ)$ and $0$ .

$\cos (θ) \cos (θ) + \sin (θ) (- \sin (θ))$

Step 3.2

Simplify each term.

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Step 3.2.1

Multiply $\cos (θ) \cos (θ)$ .

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Step 3.2.1.1

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

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

Step 3.2.1.2

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

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

Step 3.2.1.3

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

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

Step 3.2.1.4

Add $1$ and $1$ .

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

Step 3.2.2

Rewrite using the commutative property of multiplication.

$\cos^{2} (θ) - \sin (θ) \sin (θ)$

Step 3.2.3

Multiply $- \sin (θ) \sin (θ)$ .

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Step 3.2.3.1

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

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

Step 3.2.3.2

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

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

Step 3.2.3.3

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

$\cos^{2} (θ) - {\sin (θ)}^{1 + 1}$

Step 3.2.3.4

Add $1$ and $1$ .

$\cos^{2} (θ) - \sin^{2} (θ)$

Step 4

Apply the cosine double-angle identity.

$\cos (2 θ)$