Solution of a trigonometric system of equations in two unknowns

Geometry Level 5

Consider the system of equations given by

{ cos x + 5 cos y 4 sin x + 2 sin y = 1 2 cos x + cos y + 3 sin x + 8 sin y = 2 \begin{cases} \cos x + 5 \cos y - 4 \sin x + 2 \sin y = 1 \\ 2 \cos x + \cos y + 3 \sin x + 8 \sin y = 2 \end{cases}

Find all the solutions ( x i , y i ) (x_i, y_i) , and enter the sum S S , where S = i ( x i + y i ) S = \displaystyle \sum_i {(x_i + y_i)}

Note: It is assumed that both x x and y y lie in the interval [ 0 , 2 π ) [0, 2 \pi ) .


The answer is 29.507.

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2 solutions

Mark Hennings
Nov 29, 2018

The equations can be written 11 sin x = 9 cos y 4 sin y 11 cos x = 11 19 cos y 38 sin y \begin{aligned} 11\sin x & = \; 9\cos y - 4\sin y \\ 11\cos x & = \; 11 - 19\cos y - 38 \sin y \end{aligned} and hence we have the equation 121 = ( 9 cos y 4 sin y ) 2 + ( 11 19 cos y 38 sin y ) 2 121 \; = \; (9\cos y - 4\sin y)^2 + (11 - 19\cos y - 38 \sin y)^2 which has 4 4 solutions in ( 0 , 2 π ) (0,2\pi) , namely y = 2.24958 , 2.54132 , 5.96147 , 6.23229 y = 2.24958\,,\,2.54132\,,\,5.96147\,,\,6.23229 . Each value of y y defines the values of cos x \cos x and sin x \sin x precisely, and hence gives a unique value for x x in ( 0 , 2 π ) (0,2\pi) . These values are x = 4.06345 , 5.20615 , 1.09995 , 2.15233 x = 4.06345\,,\,5.20615\,,\,1.09995\,,\,2.15233 respectively. Adding up the four values for y y and the four values for x x gives the answer 29.5065 \boxed{29.5065} .

Got there by the same approach. I had to use numerical methods to solve for y y - did you find a different way?

Chris Lewis - 2 years, 6 months ago

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No, I was unashamedly numerical. I guess you could try for ( cos y , sin y ) (\cos y, \sin y) as the coordinates for where a number of different ellipses, like ( 9 X 4 Y ) 2 + ( 11 19 X 38 Y ) 2 = 121 (9X - 4Y)^2 + (11 - 19X - 38Y)^2 \; = \; 121 meet the unit circle X 2 + Y 2 = 1 X^2 + Y^2 = 1 , but the numbers do not look encouraging.

Mark Hennings - 2 years, 6 months ago
Joshua Lowrance
Dec 1, 2018

As above used desmos graphing calculator.

Niranjan Khanderia - 2 years, 6 months ago

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