What Other Regular Polygon Should I Draw?

Geometry Level 3

tan 2 2 0 + tan 2 4 0 + tan 2 8 0 = ? \large\tan^220^{\circ}+\tan^240^{\circ}+\tan^280^{\circ}=\ ?


The answer is 33.

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2 solutions

Relevant wiki: Roots of Unity

A solution using roots of unity: first note that the expression we want is S = tan 2 ( 2 π 9 ) + tan 2 ( 4 π 9 ) + tan 2 ( 8 π 9 ) S=\tan^2(\frac{2\pi}{9})+\tan^2(\frac{4\pi}{9})+\tan^2(\frac{8\pi}{9}) . Now consider the 9th cyclotomic polynomial Φ 9 = x 6 + x 3 + 1 \Phi_9=x^6+x^3+1 which has roots x = cis ( 2 π k 9 ) x=\text{cis}(\frac{2\pi k}{9}) for integer k k with gcd ( k , 9 ) = 1 \gcd(k,9)=1 . Then with the transformation t = x + 1 x = 2 cos ( 2 π k 9 ) t=x+\frac{1}{x}=2\cos(\frac{2\pi k}{9}) we obtain the polynomial t 3 3 t + 1 t^3-3t+1 whose roots are t = 2 cos ( 2 π k 9 ) t=2\cos(\frac{2\pi k}{9}) for k { 1 , 2 , 4 } k \in \{1,2,4\} . Finally make y = 4 t 2 t 2 t 2 = 4 y + 1 y=\frac{4-t^2}{t^2} \implies t^2=\frac{4}{y+1} to obtain the polynomial y 3 33 y 2 + 27 y 3 y^3-33y^2+27y-3 whose roots are y = tan 2 ( 2 π k 9 ) y=\tan^2(\frac{2\pi k}{9}) for k { 1 , 2 , 4 } k \in \{1,2,4\} . By Vieta's formulas, S = 33 1 = 33 S=-\frac{-33}{1}=\boxed{33} .

This is SUPER AWESOME. What inspired you to do this solution?

Manuel Kahayon - 5 years ago
Ahmad Saad
May 17, 2016

nice and easy solution..+1

Sabhrant Sachan - 5 years ago

Please use latex.Nice solution.

Harry Jones - 4 years, 3 months ago

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