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Can you help me with this math problem?

Can you help me with this math problem?-example-1

1 Answer

4 votes

Answer:

-1239/1961

Explanation:

You want cos(A+B) given that tan(A) = 45/28 and cos(B) = 12/37.

Tangent formulas

Here, we'll use the tangent relations ...

  • tan(A+B) = (tan(A) +tan(B))/(1 -tan(A)tan(B))
  • tan(x)² +1 = sec(x)² = 1/cos(x)²

Application

The tangent of angle B can be found from ...

tan(B)² = 1/cos(B)² -1

tan(B)² = 1/(12/37)² -1 = 1225/144

tan(B) = 35/12

Now the tangent of the angle sum is ...

tan(A+B) = (tan(A) +tan(B))/(1 -tan(A)tan(B))

= (45/28 +35/12)/(1 -(45/28)(35/12)) = (95/21)/(1 -75/16) = -1520/1239

Cosine

Note that the tangent of this sum of two first-quadrant angles is negative. That means the result is a second-quadrant angle, so the cosine will also be negative.

cos(A+B) = -1/√(tan(A+B)² +1)

cos(A+B) = -1/√((1520/1239)² +1)

cos(A+B) = -1239/1961

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Additional comment

Some calculators maintain enough internal accuracy that you can obtain the answer directly from ...

cos(arctan(45/28) +arccos(12/35))

The one shown in the attachment is not able to provide the ratio of integers equal to the floating point value it computes for this.

Can you help me with this math problem?-example-1
User Vijay Sharma
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