A special angle

Geometry Level 1

If tan x = 2 \tan x = 2 , then sin 2 x + cos 2 x + tan 2 x = a b \sin 2x + \cos 2x + \tan 2x = -\frac{a}{b} , where a a and b b are coprime positive integers. What is the value of a + b a+b ?


The answer is 32.

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1 solution

Tanishq Aggarwal
Dec 14, 2013

Note that by the given information, sin x = 2 cos x \sin{x} = 2 \cos{x} . By the double-angle formulas for each of the terms in our expression, we may reduce the desired expression to 2 sin x cos x + cos 2 x sin 2 x + 2 tan x 1 tan 2 x 2 \sin x \cos x + \cos^2 x - \sin^2 x + \frac{2 \tan x}{1 - \tan^2 x}

Substituting tan x = 2 \tan x = 2 and the derived equality, we have

4 cos 2 x + cos 2 x 4 cos 2 x 4 3 4 \cos ^2 x + \cos^2 x - 4 \cos^2 x - \frac{4}{3} cos 2 x 4 3 \cos^2 x - \frac{4}{3}

Now for a bit of clever manipulation. We know that sin x = 2 cos x \sin x = 2 \cos x , so squaring both sides and then adding cos 2 x \cos^2 x yields sin 2 x + cos 2 x = 5 cos 2 x \sin^2 x + \cos^2 x = 5 \cos^2 x , so 1 = 5 cos 2 x 1 = 5 \cos^2 x , so cos 2 x = 1 5 \cos^2 x = \frac{1}{5} . Our desired value becomes

1 5 4 3 \frac{1}{5} - \frac{4}{3}

, which is 17 15 \frac{-17}{15} and our desired answer becomes 32 \boxed{32} .

Clever solution!

Happy Melodies - 7 years, 5 months ago

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