Trigonometry Examples

$\sin (3 x)$

Step 1

A good method to expand $\sin (3 x)$ is by using De Moivre's theorem $(r {(\cos (x) + i \cdot \sin (x))}^{n} = r^{n} (\cos (n x) + i \cdot \sin (n x)))$ . When $r = 1$ , $\cos (n x) + i \cdot \sin (n x) = {(\cos (x) + i \cdot \sin (x))}^{n}$ .

$\cos (n x) + i \cdot \sin (n x) = {(\cos (x) + i \cdot \sin (x))}^{n}$

Step 2

Expand the right hand side of $\cos (n x) + i \cdot \sin (n x) = {(\cos (x) + i \cdot \sin (x))}^{n}$ using the binomial theorem.

Expand: ${(\cos (x) + i \cdot \sin (x))}^{3}$

Step 3

Use the Binomial Theorem.

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) (i \sin (x)) + 3 \cos (x) {(i \sin (x))}^{2} + {(i \sin (x))}^{3}$

Step 4

Simplify terms.

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Step 4.1

Simplify each term.

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Step 4.1.1

Apply the product rule to $i \sin (x)$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) + 3 \cos (x) (i^{2} \sin^{2} (x)) + {(i \sin (x))}^{3}$

Step 4.1.2

Rewrite $i^{2}$ as $- 1$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) + 3 \cos (x) (- 1 \sin^{2} (x)) + {(i \sin (x))}^{3}$

Step 4.1.3

Rewrite $- 1 \sin^{2} (x)$ as $- \sin^{2} (x)$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) + 3 \cos (x) (- \sin^{2} (x)) + {(i \sin (x))}^{3}$

Step 4.1.4

Multiply $- 1$ by $3$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) - 3 \cos (x) \sin^{2} (x) + {(i \sin (x))}^{3}$

Step 4.1.5

Apply the product rule to $i \sin (x)$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) - 3 \cos (x) \sin^{2} (x) + i^{3} \sin^{3} (x)$

Step 4.1.6

Factor out $i^{2}$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) - 3 \cos (x) \sin^{2} (x) + i^{2} \cdot i \sin^{3} (x)$

Step 4.1.7

Rewrite $i^{2}$ as $- 1$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) - 3 \cos (x) \sin^{2} (x) - 1 \cdot i \sin^{3} (x)$

Step 4.1.8

Rewrite $- 1 i$ as $- i$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) - 3 \cos (x) \sin^{2} (x) - i \sin^{3} (x)$

Step 4.2

Reorder factors in $\cos^{3} (x) + 3 \cos^{2} (x) i \sin (x) - 3 \cos (x) \sin^{2} (x) - i \sin^{3} (x)$ .

$\cos^{3} (x) + 3 i \cos^{2} (x) \sin (x) - 3 \cos (x) \sin^{2} (x) - i \sin^{3} (x)$

Step 5

Take out the expressions with the imaginary part, which are equal to $\sin (3 x)$ . Remove the imaginary number $i$ .

$\sin (3 x) = 3 \cos^{2} (x) \sin (x) - \sin^{3} (x)$