OPEN MIND ACADEMY

GRADE 12 HIGHER LEVEL MATHEMATICS

ONLINE LESSON NO. 9

TOPIC: TRIGONOMETRY
SUB TOPIC: Proving Trigonometric Identities (Equations)
DATE 13/07/21
DUE DATE 19/07/21

LESSON OBJECTIVE: To prove trigonometric identities.

NOTES

Proving an identity is very different in concept from solving an equation. Though you
will use many of the same techniques, they are not the same, and the differences are
what can cause you problems.

An "identity" is a tautology, an equation or statement that is always true, no matter

what. For instance, sin(x) = 1/csc(x) is an identity. To "prove" an identity, you have to
use logical steps to show that one side of the equation can be transformed into the other
side of the equation. You do not plug values into the identity to "prove" anything. There
are infinitely-many values you can plug in. Are you really going to "prove" anything by
listing three or four values where the two sides of the equation are equal? Of course not.
And sometimes you'll be given an equation which is not an identity. If you plug a value
in where the two sides happen to be equal, such as π/4 for the (false) identity sin(x)
= cos(x), you could fool yourself into thinking that a mere equation is an identity. You'll
have shot yourself in the foot. So, let's don't do that.

To prove an identity, you can work on both sides together for a regular equation,
because you are trying to find where the equation is true. When you are working with an
identity, if you work on both sides and work down to where the sides are equal, you will
only have shown that, if the starting equation is true, then you can arrive at another true

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equation. But you won't have proved, logically, that the original equation was actually
true.

Since you will be working with two sides of an equation, it might be helpful to
introduce some notation, if you haven't seen it before. The "left-hand side" of an
equation is denoted by LHS, and the "right-hand side" is denoted as RHS.

Example

Prove the identity  

It's usually a safe bet to start working on the side that appears to be more complicated.
In this case, that would be the LHS. Another safe bet is to convert things to sines and
cosines, and see where that leads. So, my first step will be to convert the cotangent and
cosecant into their alternative expressions:

Now flip and multiply:

Now I can see that the sines cancel, leaving me with:

Then my proof of the identity is all of these steps, put together:

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 ACTIVITY
1. y = mx + c, Chapter 4: Trigonometry, page 138, Exercise 4C.2 question: 2a & b.
2. Do the following exercise (1):

Exercise
1. Prove the following Identities
a)  sin4(x) – cos4(x) = 2sin2(x) – 1
b) (1 – cos2(α))(1 + cos2(α)) = 2sin2(α) – sin4(α)
c) sin2(θ)sec2(θ) + sin2(θ)csc2(θ) = sec2(θ)

The next topic will be on Trigonometric Equations

Submissions
 Due date: 19 July 2021
 You can email typed work to omaacademic21@gmail.com or you can bring you
work done to the school at the reception.