Mathematics Magazine

ISSN: 0025-570X (Print) 1930-0980 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/umma20

Proof Without Words: Tangent Plus Cotangent is

Greater or Equal Than 2

Ángel Plaza

To cite this article: Ángel Plaza (2018) Proof Without Words: Tangent Plus Cotangent is Greater
or Equal Than 2, Mathematics Magazine, 91:5, 363-363, DOI: 10.1080/0025570X.2018.1465772

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/0025570X.2018.1465772

Published online: 07 Dec 2018.

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VOL. 91, NO. 5, DECEMBER 2018 363

Proof Without Words: Tangent Plus

Cotangent is Greater or Equal Than 2
ÁNGEL PLAZA
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas, Spain
angel.plaza@ulpgc.es
Theorem. For α ∈ (0, π/2), tan α + cot α ≥ 2.
Proof.


1
Corollary. For x > 0, x + ≥ 2.
x
Summary. Using the representation of tan α and cot α in the unit circle, it is shown without words that tan α +
cot α ≥ 2.

ÁNGEL PLAZA (MR Author ID: 350023, ORCID 0000-0002-5077-6531) received his master’s degree from
Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1984 and his Ph.D. from Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in
1993, where he is a Full Professor in Applied Mathematics.

Math. Mag. 91 (2018) 363. doi:10.1080/0025570X.2018.1465772 

C Mathematical Association of America
MSC: Primary 97G40
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/umma.