How to simplify an iterated trigonometric expression

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
6 replies · 2K views
Leo Liu
Messages
353
Reaction score
156
Homework Statement
.
Relevant Equations
.
eg ##\cos (\sin x)##
Asking this question out of curiosity.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Leo Liu said:
Homework Statement:: .
Relevant Equations:: .

eg ##\cos (\sin x)##
Asking this question out of curiosity.
I don't see how you're going to be able to get anything simpler than that.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Keith_McClary
Typically this can only be done with the partial sums of the Taylor series of the functions. There are a variety of ways to calculate a partial sum of the composition, including matrix multiplication.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Leo Liu
Delta2 said:
If you are interested about the Fourier series of cos(cos x) or cos (sin x) I think they are related to the Bessel functions.
Thank you this is the best answer I got :D
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Delta2
WWGD said:
Or maybe you want something like :

##Cos^2(sinx)+ Sin^2(sinx)=1##

So that ##Cos(sinx)=\sqrt {1-Sin^2(sinx)}##?
I thought of something like this, as well as a Taylor or Maclaurin series, but none of these seemed like they would serve to simplify the given expression.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Leo Liu, FactChecker and WWGD