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[Trigonometry] Type#4: Questions based on Trig and Algebra combo
Algebra: 3 formulas 1.
Trigonometry: Formulas 2.
Case: Only trig formulas 3.
Case: Combo of Trig + algebra formulas 4.
Mock Questions 5.
Before moving to the next topic of trigonometry, I would like to quote
the tweets of SSC chairmans ocial account:
What SSC chief said
In SSC CGL 2013, the Maths will be of class 10th level.(tweet link) 1.
questions in trigonometry and geometry will certainly be easier.
(tweet link)
2.
(because) some non mathematics candidates (in 12th std) had
complained about trigonometry and geometry questions of Higher
Secondary level (class12) level (in earlier SSC CGL exam).(tweet
link)
3.
Point being: there is no need to be afraid of either trigonometry or
geometry. You need to understand a few concepts, mugup a few
formulas and practice questions, then both trigonometry and
geometry can be solved without much problem. Anyways, back to the
trig. Topics. Until now we saw
Height and distance problems 1.
How to construct the trigonometry table and solve questions 2.
Complimentary angles (90-A) 3.
now moving to the last major topic: the questions based on combo
of Trig+algebra formulas. Almost all of them can be solved by
mugging up only six formulas: 3 from algebra and 3 from
trigonometry.
4.
Algebra: 3 formulas
These three formulas are
(A plus or minus B)
2
1.
A
2
-B
2
2.
(A plus or minus B)
3
3.
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Lets see
First formula
Positive sign Negative sign
(a+b)
2
=a
2
+2ab+b
2
(a-b)
2
=a
2
-2ab+b
2
Second formula
(a
2
-b
2
)=(a+b)(a-b)
Third formula
Positive sign Negative
a
3
+b
3
=(a+b)
3
-3ab(a+b) a
3
-b
3
=(a-b)
3
+3ab(a-b)
based on above formulas, we can derive some more formulas for
example
(a+b)
2
=a
2
+2ab+b
2
=> a
2
+b
2
=(a+b)
2
-2ab
Same way,
a
3
+b
3
=(a+b)
3
-3ab(a+b)
=> (a+b)
3
= a
3
+b
3
+3ab(a+b)= a
3
+b
3
+3ab
2
+3a
2
b
Trigonometry: Formulas
Again, only three formulas
Sin
2
a+cos
2
a=1 1.
Sec
2
a-tan
2
a=1 2.
Cosec
2
a-cot
2
a=1 3.
you can verify these formulas by plugging the values from our
trigonometry table.
It is important not to make mistake in these three fomulas vs
complimentary angle
Complimentary angle
(90-A)
Trig.formulas
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Sin and Cos
Here also both are together. Sin and cos:
Sin
2
a+cos
2
a=1
Cosec and sec
Here cosec comes with cot (and not Sec).
Cosec
2
a-cot
2
a=1
Tan and cot
Here Tan comes with sec (and not Cot):
Sec
2
a-tan
2
a=1
Based on these formula, you can derive many other formulas for
example
Tan=sin/cos.
And we now know that Sin
2
a+cos
2
a=1. So
cos
2
A=1-sin
2
a
cosA=sq.root of (1-sin
2
a)
now pluggin this back into Tans ratio
TanA=sinA/cosA
=sinA/ sq.root(1-sin
2
A)
In some books you might have seen such complex formulas for cosec,
sec, cot also. Basically theyre derived from the three main formulas
given above..
Case: Only trig formulas
Q. Find the value of sin
2
a+[1/(1+tan
2
a)]
We know the Sec
2
a-tan
2
a=1=>sec
2
a=1+tan
2
a
Substituting this in the question
sin
2
a+1/(1+tan
2
a)
=sin
2
a+(1/sec
2
a) ; but cos= 1/sec
= Sin
2
a+cos
2
a
=1
Q. if 3cos
2
A+7sin
2
A=4 then nd value of cotA, given that A is
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an acute angle?
Approach
Instead of 7sin
2
a=3sin
2
a+4sin
2
a (because 4+3=7).eq1
Now lets look at the question
3cos
2
a+7sin
2
a=4
3cos
2
a+3sin
2
a+4sin
2
a =4 ; using value from eq1
3(cos
2
a+sin
2
a) +4sin
2
a =4
3(1)+ 4sin
2
a =4
4sin
2
a=4-3
Sin
2
A=1/4
sinA=squareroot (1/4)=1/2
From the trigonometry table (or Topi Triangles), we know that
sin30=1/2 therefore angle A has to be 30 degrees. And from the
same trigonometry table, we can see that cot30=root3. Thats our
nal answer.
Q. if cos
2
a+cos
4
a=1, what is the value of tan
2
a+tan
4
a
Approach
We know that Sin
2
a+cos
2
a=1 =>sin
2
a=1-cos
2
aeq1
In the question, we are given that
cos
2
a+cos
4
a=1
taking cos
2
a on the right hand side
cos
4
a=1-cos
2
a
taking value from eq1
cos
4
a=sin
2
a
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cos
2
a x cos
2
a = sin
2
a ; laws of surds and indices
cos
2
a=(sin
2
a/cos
2
a)
cos
2
a=tan
2
aeq2
now lets move to the next part. in the question, we have to nd the
value of
tan
2
a+tan
4
a
=tan
2
a+(tan
2
a)
2
; because (a
2
)
2
=a
22=4
= cos
2
a+cos
4
a ;applying value from eq2
=1 ;this was already given in the rst part of the question itself.
Final answer=1.
Case: Combo of Trig + algebra formulas
Q.nd value of sin
4
a-cos
4
a
We know that
(a
2
-b
2
)=(a+b)(a-b)
So instead of sin
4
a-cos
4
a, I can write
(sin
2
a)
2
-(cos
2
a)
2
; because a
4=22
=(a
2
)
2
=(Sin
2
a+cos
2
a)(Sin
2
a-cos
2
a)
=1 x (Sin
2
a-cos
2
a) ; because (a
2
-b
2
)=(a+b)(a-b)
=(Sin
2
a-cos
2
a)
We can further simplify this as (sina-cosa)x(sina-cosb)
Q. if sin
4
a-cos
4
a=-2/3 then what is the value of 2cos
2
a-1
Approach
We know that Sin
2
a+cos
2
a=1=> sin
2
a=1- cos
2
a.(eq1)
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From the previous sum, we already know that
LHS RHS
sin
4
a-cos
4
a= (sin
2
a-cos
2
a)
(1-cos
2
a-cos
2
a) ; applying eq.1
-2/3 (given in the Qs.)
=1-2cos
2
a
2/3
2cos
2
a-1 ; multiplying both sides with (-1)
Therefore, 2cos
2
a-1=2/3
Q. what is the value of (cosecA-sinA)
2
+(secA-cosA)
2
-(cotA-
tanA)
2
Im dividing this equation into three parts. After that, Ill apply the
formula (a-b)
2
=a
2
-2ab+b
2
on each of them
(coseca-sina)
2
+(seca-cosa)
2
-(cota-tana)
2
Cosec
2
a-2cosecA x
sinA+sin
2
a
+sec
2
a-2secA x
cosA+cos
2
a
-(cot
2
A-2cotA x tanA
+tan
2
A)
If you observe the bold parts: 2 cosec A x sin A= 2 x 1 (because cosec
and sin are inverse of each other so sin x cosec =1). Same situation
will repeat two other parts (because sec x cos = 1 and tan x cot =1.)
So now our three parts will look like:
Cosec
2
a-2+sin
2
a+sec
2
a-2+cos
2
a-(cot
2
A-2 +tan
2
A)
=Cosec
2
a-2+sin
2
a+ sec
2
a-2+cos
2
a- cot
2
A+2 -tan
2
A ;donot make silly
mistakes while opening brackets with minus sign e.g. -(a+b-c)=-a-b+c.
Now lets club them according to the three trig. Formulas
(e.g.sin
2
a+cos
2
a=1)
= (Cosec
2
a- cot
2
A) +(sin
2
a+ cos
2
a)+( sec
2
a -tan
2
A)+(-2-2+2)
=1+1+1-2 ;because each of those pair is equal to 1.
=1
Q. If sinA-cosA=7/13, what is the value of sinA+cosA, given that
A is an acute angle?
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we know that
(a-b)
2
=a
2
-2ab+b
2
LHS RHS
(sinA-cosA)
2
=Sin
2
a-2sinA x cosA +cos
2
A
(7/13)
2
= 1-2sinA x cosA; because Sin
2
A+cos
2
A=1
Therefore, 2sinA x cosA=1-(7/13)
2
=.eq1
Moving forward, we also know that
(a+b)
2
=a
2
+2ab+b
2
LHS RHS
(sinA+cosA)
2
=Sin
2
a+2sinA x cosA +cos
2
A
1+2sinA x cosA; because Sin
2
A+cos
2
A=1
1+1-(7/13)
2
; plugging the value from eq.1
(sinA+cosA)
2
==289/169=(17/13)
2
Taking square-root on both sides,
sinA+cosA=17/13, thats our nal answer.
Mock Questions
Find value of Cos
2
a+(1/1+cot
2
a)
0 a.
1 b.
2 c.
3 d.
1.
Find value of 2sin
2
a+4sec
2
a+5cot
2
a+2cos
2
a-4tan
2
a-5cosec
2
a
0 a.
1 b.
2 c.
3 d.
2.
Find the value of (cosA-sinA)
2
+(cosA+sinA)
2
0 a.
1 b.
2 c.
3 d.
3.
Find the value of Cot
2
A x (sec
2
A-1) 4.
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0 a.
1 b.
2 c.
3 d.
Find the value of (secA x cotA)
2
(cosec A x cosA)
2
0 a.
1 b.
2 c.
3 d.
5.
secA/(cotA+tanA) will be equal to
cosA a.
cosecA b.
sinA c.
tanA d.
6.
(1+tanA+secA)(1+cotA-cosecA) will be equal to
0 a.
1 b.
2 c.
3 d.
7.
Cos
6
A+sin
6
A=
1-3(cosA x sinA)
2
a.
1+3(cosA x sinA)
2
b.
1-3(cosA x sinA)
3
c.
1-3(cosA x sinA)
6
d.
8.
(sin
2
A x cos
2
B) (cos
2
A x sin
2
B) will be equal to
Sin
2
A-cos
2
A a.
Sin
2
A+cos
2
A b.
Cos
2
A cos
2
A c.
Sin
2
A-Sin
2
B d.
9.
(tanA+cotA)(secA-cosA)(cosecA-sinA)=
0 a.
1 b.
2 c.
3 d.
10.
If Tan
2
A+Tan
4
A=1 then what is the value of cos
2
A+cos
4
A, given
that A is an acute angle?
0 a.
1 b.
2 c.
3 d.
11.
(cosecA-cotA)
2
=
(1-cosA)/(2+cosA) a.
12.
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(1+cosA)/(1-cosA) b.
(1-cosA)/(1+cosA) c.
(1-cosA)x(1+cosA) d.
[(tanA+secA)
2
-1]/[(tanA+secA)
2
+1], will be equal to
tanA a.
secA b.
sinA c.
cosA d.
13.
[(sin
2
20+sin
2
70)/(sec
2
50-
cos
2
40)]+2cosec
2
58-2(cot58xtan32)-(4tan13 x tan37 x tan45 x
tan53 x tan77)
0 a.
-1 b.
1 c.
None of above d.
14.
If cotA=root7, what is the value of (cosec
2
A-sec
2
A)/(
cosec
2
A+sec
2
A)
3/2 a.
3/4 b.
4/3 c.
2/3 d.
15.
(sinA+cosecA)
2
+(cosA+secA)
2
will be equal to
Tan
2
A+cot
2
A+4 a.
Tan
2
A-cot
2
A+5 b.
Tan
2
A-cot
2
A c.
Tan
2
A+cot
2
A+7 d.
16.
Answers
1)b,2)b, 3)c, 4)b, 5)b, 6)c , 7)c, 8)a, 9)d, 10)b, 11)b, 12)c,13)d, 14)b,
15)b,16)d
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questions-based-on-trig-and-algebra-combo.html
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