How Do You Make 'z' the Subject in This Trigonometric Formula?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the process of making 'z' the subject of a trigonometric formula involving arctangent and tangent functions. Participants explore various mathematical approaches and formulas related to trigonometry, with a focus on manipulating the given equation.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express uncertainty about whether it is possible to isolate 'z' in the given formula.
  • One participant suggests that rewriting the equation in a more mathematical format could aid in solving it.
  • Another participant describes their process of eliminating the 1/2 factor and applying trigonometric identities, indicating that they encountered complications leading to a quadratic form.
  • Several participants share their attempts to derive 'z' using various trigonometric identities, including the double angle and angle addition formulas.
  • One participant acknowledges a mistake in their original question, which led to a revised equation and a new result for 'z'.
  • Another participant expresses confusion about the correctness of their derived formula for 'z', indicating a lack of confidence in their solution.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the method for isolating 'z' or the correctness of the derived formulas. Multiple competing views and approaches remain throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention potential mistakes in their calculations and express uncertainty about the validity of their results. There are indications of unresolved mathematical steps and assumptions that may affect the outcomes.

mubashirmansoor
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Can you please help me for making 'z' the subject of formula;

(z-x)/g = tan(0.5(arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)))

I'll be thankfull...
 
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Sometimes it's not possible to make 'z' the subject of a formula.
 
mubashirmansoor said:
Can you please help me for making 'z' the subject of formula;

(z-x)/g = tan(0.5(arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)))

I'll be thankfull...


ok let's begin by writing that more mathematically.

\frac{z-x} {g} = tan{\frac{tan^{-1}(\frac{z-y} {g})+tan^{-1}(\frac{y-x} {g})} {2}

IS this what you mean? 6am...I might have done it wrong.

tip: maybe trying to get both sides to look messy might help...i have a way to solve this in mind and if it works that way, this is a beautiful problem. if it doesn't... i don't like this problem.
 
Last edited:
Oh I hate you now, it awakened my curiosity and...50 minutes later I think I have it. One Z on the process decided to turn squared on me and instead of a nice common factor i had to use quadratic formula. indication that i did something awfully wrong but...i checked and it looks ok.

EDIT: Ok I re-read the stickies, this isn't the homework section so i can post the work I did. Basically i got rid of that nasty 1/2 by...well this way: (sorry for the notation, i wrote this is a .txt file.

Robokapp's work said:
(z-x)/g = tan(0.5(arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)))


2arctan[(z-x)/g] = arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)


tan{2arctan[(z-x)/g]} = tan{arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)}


Using the double angle formula in first part and angle plus angle formula in second part...
 
Last edited:
thanks robokapp, I'll be thankfull if you do the whole thing (applying the formulas) what is z equal to?

I don't really know which formulas you are talking about...

thanks once again
 
Okay...sure. After all I do am curious if I did any horrible mistakes (i might have)

I disliked the 1/2 part. I knew there are formulas for different half-angle, duble angle, angle plus angle etc so i went to wikipedia and typed in 'trigonometry.' the formulas are on bottom.

I knew the "tan" and "arctan" will cancel each other out so I picked formulas so that I only work in terms of tan. This is my full work:

(z-x)/g = tan(0.5(arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)))


2arctan[(z-x)/g] = arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)


tan{2arctan[(z-x)/g]} = tan{arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)}


Using the double angle formula in first part and angle plus angle formula in second part...


2tan{arctan[(z-x)/g]}
----------------------------------------------- =
1 - tan{arctan[(z-x)/g]} * tan{arctan[(z-x)/g]}


tan{arctan((z-y)/g)}+tan{arctan((y-x)/g)}
= -------------------------------------------- ====>
1+tan{arctan((z-y)/g)}*tan{arctan((y-x)/g)}


2(z-x)/g....(z-y)/g+(y-x)/g
-------------- = ------------------- ====>
1-(z-x)^2/g^2...1+(z-y)/g * (y-x)/g


2(z-x)....(z-y)+(y-x)
-------------- = ---------------- =====>
1-(z-x)^2/g...1+(z-y) * (y-x)


2gz-2gx ...z-x
------------- = ---------------- ======> flip it.
g-z^2-2zx+x^2...1+zy-zx-y^2+xy


g-z^2-2zx+x^2...1+zy-zx-y^2+xy
------------- = -------------- =======>
2gz-2gx...z-x


g-z^2-2zx+x^2... 1+zy-zx-y^2+xy
------------- = -------------- =======> multiply second by 2g/2g
2g(z-x)..... z-x


g-z^2-2zx+x^2...2g(1+zy-zx-y^2+xy)
------------- = ------------------- =======>
2g(z-x).....2g(z-x)


g-z^2-2zx+x^2 = 2g+2zgy-2zgx-2gy^2+2gxy


-z^2-2zx-2zgy-2zgx = 2g+2gxy-2gy^2-g-x^2


-z^2-2zx-2zgy-2zgx = g+2gxy-2gy^2-x^2


-z^2+z(2x-2gy-2gx) - g-2gxy+2gy^2+x^2 = 0


Calling

a= -1
b= 2x-2gy-2gx
c= -g-2gxy+2gy^2+x^2


z=0.5{-(2x-2gy-2gx) +/- sqrt[(2x-2gy-2gx)^2+4(-g-2gxy+2gy^2+x^2)]}


-------------------------------------------

Now...I don't think it should have 2 answers, I don't seem to have any way around that z^2 however.


The ... takes place of..balnk so numbers don't run into each other.

please someone check my work...
 
Last edited:
Thanks Robokapp, I had actually done a sily mistake in writing the question, It should had been:

(z-x)/2g = tan(0.5(arctan((z-y)/g)+arctan((y-x)/g)))

But I used the formulas you provided and got the following results:

z = 2x - y +/- sqrt(3y^2-6yx+3x^2-4g^2)

Thankyou you were a great help
 
but chk it out, Did I do it correctly? becase I'm little puzzeled It's not working as I wanted...
 

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