Basic Trigonometric Equations:

When asked to solve

2x - 1 = 0, we can easily get 2x = 1 and x =

as the answer.

When asked to solve 2sinx - 1 = 0, we proceed in a similar manner. We first look at sinx as being the variable of the equation and solve as we did in the first example. 2sinx - 1 = 0 2sinx = 1

sinx = But, we are only half way to the answer!!! If we recall the graph of , we will remember that there are actually TWO values of for which the = 1/2. These values are at:

or at 30 and 150.

If we look at the extended graph of , we see that there are many other solutions to this equation = 1/2. We could arrive at these "other" solutions by adding a multiple of to .

Most equations, however, limit the answers to trigonometric equations to the domain . (Always read the question carefully to determine the given domain.)

Signs and Quadrants:

Solutions of trigonometric equations may also be found by examining the sign of the trig value and determining the proper quadrant(s) for that value.

Example 1:
Solution: First, solve for sin x.

Now, sine is negative in Quadrant III and Quadrant IV.

Also, a sine value of is a reference angle of 45. So, consider the reference angle of 45 in quadrants III and IV.

Example 2:
Solution: First, solve for tan x.

Now, tangent is negative in Quadrant II and Quadrant IV. Also, a tangent value of is a reference angle of 60 degrees. So, consider the reference angle of 60 in quadrants II and IV.

Trigonometric Equations involving Powers:

When the trig function has a power, it will have to be solved by extracting square roots or factoring.

Example 1:
Solution:

Example 2:
Solution:

At this point we know that :

implies that (see graph). Since the sine function has maximum and minimum values of +1 and -1, has no solutions. Thus the answer is the only solution. In this last example, you may have been tempted to divide all the terms by tan x to simplify the equation. If this had been done, the equation would

Now,

have been: We lost the tan x term and its solution by dividing by tan x. Not a good move!!!

Solving Quadratic Equations:

Remember to first solve for the trig function and then solve for the angle value.

Example:
Solution:

Using Identities in Equation Solving:

If there is more than one trig function in the equation, identities are needed to reduce the equation to a single function for solving.

Example:
Solution:

Using Quadratic Formula with Trig Equations:

There are trig equations, just like there are normal equations, where factoring does not work!! In these cases, the quadratic formula comes in handy.

Example:

Solution: Since there are two trig functions in this problem, we need to use an identity to eliminate one of them.

Using the quadratic formula, we get: