Tricky Quadratic formula / trig identities

binbagsss
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Im to solve ##(k+l)^{2}e^{-ila}-(k-l)^{2}e^{ila}=0##, for ## k##,

The solution is ##k=l(e^{ial}-1)/(e^{ial}+1)=il tan(al/2)##

FIRST QUESTION

So it's a quadratic in k, should be simple enough, my working so far using the quad. formula is ##k= (4l^{2}(e^{-ila}+e^{ila})\pm \sqrt{4l^{2}(e^{-ila}+e^{ila})^{2}-4l^{2}(e^{-ila}-e^{ila})^{2}})/2(e^{-ila}-e^{ila})##
=##(4l^{2}(e^{-ila}+e^{ila})\pm \sqrt{16l^{2}})/2(e^{-ila}-e^{ila})##
... which doesn't give the correct answer.

SECOND QUESTION.

Even after attaining the correct solution, I'm struggling to show that ##l(e^{ial}-1)/(e^{ial}+1)=il tan(al/2)##
LHS: ##cos (al) + isin (al) -1 / cos (al) + isin (al) +1=(cos^{2}(al/2)-sin^{2}(al/2)+isin(al/2)cos(al/2)-1)/(cos^{2}(al/2)-sin^{2}(al/2)+isin(al/2)cos(al/2)+1)##

using## cos 2x= cos^{2}x-sin^{2}x##
and ##sin 2x=2sinxcosx,##

but this doesn't seem to be going anywhere...

Any help on either question really appreciated,
Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
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binbagsss said:
Im to solve ##(k^{\color{red}{2}}+l)^{2}e^{-ila}-(k-l)^{2}e^{ila}=0##, for ## k##,

The solution is ##k=l(e^{ial}-1)/(e^{ial}+1)=il tan(al/2)##

FIRST QUESTION

So it's a quadratic in k, should be simple enough, my working so far using the quad. formula is ##k= (4l^{2}(e^{-ila}+e^{ila})\pm \sqrt{4l^{2}(e^{-ila}+e^{ila})^{2}-4l^{2}(e^{-ila}-e^{ila})^{2}})/2(e^{-ila}-e^{ila})##
=##(4l^{2}(e^{-ila}+e^{ila})\pm \sqrt{16l^{2}})/2(e^{-ila}-e^{ila})##
... which doesn't give the correct answer.

SECOND QUESTION.

Even after attaining the correct solution, I'm struggling to show that ##l(e^{ial}-1)/(e^{ial}+1)=il \tan(al/2)##
LHS: ##\cos (al) + i\sin (al) -1 / \cos (al) + i\sin (al) +1=(\cos^{2}(al/2)-\sin^{2}(al/2)+i\sin(al/2)\cos(al/2)-1)/(\cos^{2}(al/2)-\sin^{2}(al/2)+i\sin(al/2)\cos(al/2)+1)##

using## cos 2x= cos^{2}x-sin^{2}x##
and ##sin 2x=2sinxcosx,##

but this doesn't seem to be going anywhere...

Any help on either question really appreciated,
Thanks in advance.
The given solution is consistent with there being a typo in your stated problem statement.

It seems there should be no exponent on the k inside the first parenthesis .
 
SammyS said:
The given solution is consistent with there being a typo in your stated problem statement.

It seems there should be no exponent on the k inside the first parenthesis .
apologies, yes that was a typo,
edited ta.
 
binbagsss said:
apologies, yes that was a typo,
edited ta.
Does that help you in solving the problem, or are you still stuck?
 
SammyS said:
Does that help you in solving the problem, or are you still stuck?
The original question remains.
it was a typo.
 
For the first part, less tedious and error-prone than using your quadratic solution maybe, you have got there a slightly disguised difference of two squares.

If you can't see that, you can also take a term from right to the left hand side and see how you could then best simplify.
 
Last edited:
epenguin said:
For the first part,less tedious and error-prone than using your quadratic solution maybe, you have got there a slightly disguised difference of two squares.

If you can't see that, you can also take a term from right to the left hand side and see how you could then best simplify.

I think what you are saying is equivalent to the step I took in simpifying the part inside the square root of the quadratic formula, the last line where I get it simplifies to square rt of 16l^{2} ?
 
binbagsss said:
The original question remains.
Second Question:
Multiply the numerator & denominator by ## \ e^{-i\, l a/2}\ .##
 
First Question:

Multiply the original equation by ##\ e^{ila} \ ## .

Then it's pretty quick to get difference of squares else, add ##\displaystyle \ (k-l)^{2}e^{2ila} \ ## to both sides & take square root.

The given solution only uses one of the two possible sign choices.
 
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how many variables have your equation?
 
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