A geometry problem by Green Elephant

Geometry Level pending

For 5 < α < 6 5<\alpha<6 we have the following equation: sin 2 α 2 cos 2 α = sin α cos α \large \sin^{2}\alpha-2\cos^{2}\alpha=\sin\alpha\cos\alpha

What is the value of tan α \tan\alpha ?

-1 {-1,2} 1 2 -2

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1 solution

Green Elephant
Feb 5, 2018

We divide sin 2 α 2 cos 2 α = sin α cos α \sin^{2}\alpha-2\cos^{2}\alpha=\sin\alpha\cos\alpha by cos 2 α \cos^{2}\alpha (which is obviously different that 0 given that 5 < α < 6 5<\alpha<6 ) and we obtain: tan 2 α 2 = tan α \large \tan^{2}\alpha-2=\tan\alpha . We substitute tan α = t \tan\alpha=t and we get a second degree equation : t 2 t 2 = 0 t^{2}-t-2=0 . The solutions that resut from this equation are t 1 = 1 t_{1}=-1 and t 2 = 2 t_{2}=2 . Given that 5 < α < 6 3 π 2 < α < 2 π α < 0 5<\alpha<6 \rightarrow \frac{3\pi}{2}<\alpha<2\pi \rightarrow \alpha<0 Therefore the answer is 1 \boxed{ -1} .

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