Solving Trig Equation: Find the Answer Quickly

  • Context:
  • Thread starter Thread starter anemone
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Trig
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 2K views
anemone
Gold Member
MHB
POTW Director
Messages
3,851
Reaction score
115
Hi MHB,

Do you think this problem can be approached wisely, rather than expanding it and attack it using the Newton-Raphson method (which I did)?

Problem:

Solve $(\sec^4 x +16)^2=2^{12}(4\tan x+1)$

Thanks for reading and I would appreciate it if in case, you could solve it using shortcut that I failed to acknowledge and share it with me.
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
anemone said:
Hi MHB,

Do you think this problem can be approached wisely, rather than expanding it and attack it using the Newton-Raphson method (which I did)?

Problem:

Solve $(\sec^4 x +16)^2=2^{12}(4\tan x+1)$

Thanks for reading and I would appreciate it if in case, you could solve it using shortcut that I failed to acknowledge and share it with me.

Well writing $\displaystyle \begin{align*} \sec^2{(x)} = 1 + \tan^2{(x)} \end{align*}$ so that the equation is only in terms of $\displaystyle \begin{align*} \tan{(x)} \end{align*}$ would be a start :)
 
Prove It said:
Well writing $\displaystyle \begin{align*} \sec^2{(x)} = 1 + \tan^2{(x)} \end{align*}$ so that the equation is only in terms of $\displaystyle \begin{align*} \tan{(x)} \end{align*}$ would be a start :)

Thanks, Prove It for your reply. In fact, I solved this problem by using that substitution. I am hoping if you or anyone could find a short cut to approach the problem, since the substitution method led to a more complex polynomial and I at last have to rely wholly on the Newton-Raphson method to find the approximate answers to this problem...(Thinking)