Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

Compute tan2(20)sin2(20)tan2(20)sin2(20)\frac{\tan ^{2}\left(20^{\circ}\right)-\sin ^{2}\left(20^{\circ}\right)}{\tan ^{2}\left(20^{\circ}\right) \sin ^{2}\left(20^{\circ}\right)}.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

If we multiply top and bottom by cos2(20)\cos ^{2}\left(20^{\circ}\right), the numerator becomes sin2(20)(1cos220)=sin4(20)\sin ^{2}\left(20^{\circ}\right) \cdot(1-\cos ^{2} 20^{\circ})=\sin ^{4}\left(20^{\circ}\right), while the denominator becomes sin4(20)\sin ^{4}\left(20^{\circ}\right) also. So they are equal, and the ratio is 1.

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