Suppose x is a real number and sin3y=−sinx. Determine all possible values of siny.
Solution
Solution 1. Note that sin3θ=sinθcos2θ+cosθsin2θ=sinθ(1−2sin2θ)+cosθ(2sinθcosθ)=3sinθ−4sin3θ. So 3siny−4sin3y=−sinx=−(3sinz−4sin3z),z=x/3. Or with t=2siny, s=2sinz, 3t−t3=−3s+s3,(t+s)(t2−ts+s2−3)=0. Thus, either t=−s or t=2s±s2−4(s2−3)=2s±34−s2=sinz±3∣cosz∣, Since ∣sinz±3∣cosz∣∣≤1+3(sin2z+cos2z)=2, this means that there are three possible values for siny, namely −sin(3x),21(sin(3x)±3cos(3x)).
Solution 2. To solve the equation sin(3y)+sinx=0, we use the trigonometric identity that converts a sum of sines to a product to get 2sin(23y+x)cos(23y−x)=0. Therefore, sin((3y+x)/2)=0 or cos((3y−x)/2)=0, so 23y+x=nπor23y−x=(n+21)πfor some n∈Z. Hence y=31(2nπ−x) or y=31((2n+1)π+x), for some n∈Z. So siny=sin(31(2nπ−x)) or siny=sin(31((2n+1)π+x)), for some n=0,1,2. Here we have used the periodicity of sine to restrict the values of n. Using the identity sin(π−α)=sinα, the latter three solutions can be written as siny=sin(π−31((2n+1)π−x))=sin(31((2−2n)π−x)), for n=0,1,2. These give the same as the first three solutions. So the three solutions are siny=sin(31(2nπ−x)), for n=0,1,2, and this is the same as above.
−sin(3x),21(sin(3x)±3cos(3x)).
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