Monday, August 25, 2014

2014/066) prove the trigonometric identity $\cos\ 36^\circ - \cos\ 72^\circ = \frac{1}{2}$

proof:
 $\cos\ 36^\circ - \cos\ 72^\circ$
= $2\sin\ 54^\circ \sin\ 18^\circ$
= $\dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac {\sin\ 2*54^\circ \sin\ 2*18^\circ}{\cos\ 54^\circ \cos\ 18^\circ}$
=  $\dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac {\sin\ 108^\circ \sin\ 36^\circ}{\cos\ 54^\circ \cos\ 18^\circ}$
=  $\dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac {\cos\ 18^\circ \sin\ 36^\circ}{\sin\ 36^\circ \cos\ 18^\circ}$
= $\dfrac{1}{2}$

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