Trigonometric roots in Complex Plane!

Algebra Level 3

A monic quartic polynomial P ( x ) P(x) has real coefficients and 2 2 of its roots are x = cos θ + i sin θ x=\cos{θ}+i\sin{θ} and x = sin θ + i cos θ x=\sin{θ}+i\cos{θ} where sin θ > cos θ > 0 \sin{θ}>\cos{θ}>0 and θ θ is a real constant. When the roots are graphed in the Complex Plane , the area of the figure is HALF the y y -intercept of P ( x ) P(x) . If the coefficient of the x 3 x^3 term of P ( x ) P(x) can be represented as a b a-\sqrt{b} where a a and b b are reals, determine the value of 2 a 3 b + 18 2a-3b+18


The answer is 7.

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1 solution

Yashas Ravi
Nov 30, 2019

Since x = cos θ + i sin θ x=\cos{θ}+i\sin{θ} and x = sin θ + i cos θ x=\sin{θ}+i\cos{θ} are roots, then x = cos θ i sin θ x=\cos{θ}-i\sin{θ} and x = sin θ i cos θ x=\sin{θ}-i\cos{θ} are also roots for there to be real coefficients for P ( x ) P(x) . The y y -intercept of P ( x ) P(x) is the product of the 4 4 roots which is ( cos 2 θ + sin 2 θ ) 2 (\cos^2{θ}+\sin^2{θ})^2 which is 1 1 . When the roots are graphed onto the complex plane, a Trapezoid can be formed with bases 2 cos θ 2\cos{θ} and 2 sin θ 2\sin{θ} and height sin θ cos θ \sin{θ}-\cos{θ} since sin θ > cos θ \sin{θ}>\cos{θ} . The area of the Trapezoid comes out to be sin 2 θ cos 2 θ \sin^2{θ}-\cos^2{θ} which is half the y y -intercept of P ( x ) P(x) or 0.5 0.5 . Thus, 1 2 cos 2 θ = 0.5 1-2\cos^2{θ}=0.5 . Solving this yields cos θ = 0.5 \cos{θ}=0.5 and sin θ = 0.5 3 \sin{θ}=0.5\sqrt{3} as sin θ > cos θ > 0 \sin{θ}>\cos{θ}>0 . The coefficient of the x 3 x^3 term is the negative of the sum of roots which is 2 cos θ 2 sin θ -2\cos{θ}-2\sin{θ} or 1 3 -1-\sqrt{3} . Thus, a = 1 a=-1 and b = 3 b=3 so 2 ( 1 ) 3 ( 3 ) + 18 = 7 2(-1)-3(3)+18=\boxed{7} which is the final answer.

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