cos ( 1 2 π ) cos ( 2 4 π ) cos ( 4 8 π ) cos ( 9 6 π ) ⋯ = ?
Give your answer to 3 decimal places.
Bonus: Can you find the exact value of the expression?
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In the penultimate step, I guess you forgot to put the limit with n → ∞ .
Nonetheless, nicely written solution and a very good problem. Upvoted! :)
My method was similar to this but I used different approximations. Here's my method (posting it because I'm really bored now). The limit is,
L = n → ∞ lim k = 0 ∏ n cos ( 1 2 ⋅ 2 k π )
Using the sine double angle formula like you did, the product telescopes as,
L = n → ∞ lim 2 n + 1 sin ( 1 2 ⋅ 2 n π ) sin 6 π = y = 2 n + 1 y → ∞ lim 2 y sin ( 6 y π ) 1 = z = 1 / y z → 0 lim sin ( z 6 π ) z / 2
⟹ L = t = ( z π / 6 ) t → 0 lim t sin t 6 / 2 π = 1 6 / 2 π = 2 π 6 = π 3
k = 0 ∏ n cos ⎝ ⎜ ⎛ 2 k θ ⎠ ⎟ ⎞ = 2 n sin ( 2 n θ ) sin ( θ ) cos ( θ )
here θ = 1 2 π
n → ∞ lim 2 n sin ( 2 n 1 2 π ) sin ( 1 2 π ) cos ( 1 2 π )
Now its easy to apply the limit, multiply and divide by 2 n 1 2 π
we get finally
π 1 2 sin ( 1 2 π ) cos ( 1 2 π ) = 0 . 9 5 4 9
Can you prove your very first line?
I appreciate Jake Lai for his wonderful method.
Define A n = cos 1 2 π cos 2 4 π cos 4 8 π ⋯ cos 3 ⋅ 2 n π ⋅ sin 3 ⋅ 2 n π
So,
A n Now, P is the P x → ∞ lim b n Now, when n ⇒ x → ∞ lim b n = cos 1 2 π cos 2 4 π cos 4 8 π ⋯ cos 3 ⋅ 2 n π ⋅ sin 3 ⋅ 2 n π = 2 n − 2 1 cos 1 2 π sin 1 2 π = 2 n − 1 1 sin 6 π = 2 n 1 required product, = sin 3 ⋅ 2 n π A n = 2 n 1 ⋅ sin 3 ⋅ 2 n π 1 → ∞ , 3 ⋅ 2 n π → 0 = 2 n 1 π 3 ⋅ 2 n = π 3 ≈ 0 . 9 5 5
The definition of A n should be done separately from the calculations, especially since A n isn't something that's defined in the problem. This unnecessarily complicates the solution, because the readers are not certain what to be expecting.
E.g.
Let A n = cos 1 2 π cos 2 4 π cos 4 8 π ⋯ cos 3 ⋅ 2 n π ⋅ sin 3 ⋅ 2 n π . We will show that A n = 2 n 1
I'm a guy.
The definition of A n should be done separately from the calculations, especially since A n isn't something that's defined in the problem. This unnecessarily complicates the solution, because the readers are not certain what to be expecting.
E.g.
Let A n = cos 1 2 π cos 2 4 π cos 4 8 π ⋯ cos 3 ⋅ 2 n π ⋅ sin 3 ⋅ 2 n π . We will show that A n = 2 n 1
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Recall the double-angle identity for sines sin θ = 2 sin 2 θ cos 2 θ .
Using the identity repeatedly on sin 2 k θ gives the product
sin θ = 2 n sin 2 n θ k = 1 ∏ n cos 2 k θ
for all positive integral n . Taking the limit to infinity we have
n → ∞ lim 2 n sin 2 n θ k = 1 ∏ n cos 2 k θ = n → ∞ lim 2 n 2 n θ k = 1 ∏ n cos 2 k θ = θ k = 1 ∏ ∞ cos 2 k θ
since sin θ ≈ θ when θ → 0 . This means that
k = 1 ∏ ∞ cos 2 k θ = θ sin θ
Substituting θ = 6 π we finally get
k = 1 ∏ ∞ cos 2 k θ = π / 6 sin π / 6 = π 3