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Binomial expansion / trigonometry question

I am completely stuck on the attached question (apparently it only requires knowledge of C4, but I have no idea of how to get the answer).

I've tried expressing sec(2θ) as 1/cos(2θ), and I've attempted to use the double angle formulae to express sin(θ/2) in terms of cosθ and sinθ.

If anyone can be at all helpful I would be really grateful.

Thank you :smile:
Original post by jbc123
I am completely stuck on the attached question (apparently it only requires knowledge of C4, but I have no idea of how to get the answer).

I've tried expressing sec(2θ) as 1/cos(2θ), and I've attempted to use the double angle formulae to express sin(θ/2) in terms of cosθ and sinθ.

If anyone can be at all helpful I would be really grateful.

Thank you :smile:


sinθθ16θ3\sin\theta\approx \theta-\frac{1}{6}\theta^3

Since this is true for all small theta, we can replace theta with anything, in particular we could replace it with theta/2 thus:

sinθ/2θ/216(θ/2)3\sin\theta/2\approx \theta/2-\frac{1}{6}(\theta/2)^3

Similarly cos 2theta.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by jbc123
I am completely stuck on the attached question (apparently it only requires knowledge of C4, but I have no idea of how to get the answer).

I've tried expressing sec(2θ) as 1/cos(2θ), and I've attempted to use the double angle formulae to express sin(θ/2) in terms of cosθ and sinθ.

If anyone can be at all helpful I would be really grateful.

Thank you :smile:


Replace θ\theta with θ2\dfrac{\theta}{2} in the approximation for sinθ\sin\theta

If you're looking for another way of going about things for sec2θ\sec 2\theta, I also found it helpful to find the Maclaurin series expansion of
Unparseable latex formula:

\sec \2\theta

for the first 4 terms. This way, the only simplification I did was expanding out the product of sinθ2\sin \frac{\theta}{2} and cosθ\cos \theta and adding on the expansion of sec2θ\sec 2\theta

sec2θ=θ=0f(n)(0)n! θn\sec 2\theta = \displaystyle \sum_{\theta = 0}^{\infty} \dfrac{f^{(n)}(0)}{n!} \ \theta^n
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by ghostwalker
sinθθ16θ3\sin\theta\approx \theta-\frac{1}{6}\theta^3

Since this is true for all small theta, we can replace theta with anything, in particular we could replace it with theta/2 thus:

sinθ/2θ/216(θ/2)3\sin\theta/2\approx \theta/2-\frac{1}{6}(\theta/2)^3

Similarly cos 2theta.


thank you so much - I understand it now :smile:
Original post by ghostwalker
sinθθ16θ3\sin\theta\approx \theta-\frac{1}{6}\theta^3

Since this is true for all small theta, we can replace theta with anything, in particular we could replace it with theta/2 thus:

sinθ/2θ/216(θ/2)3\sin\theta/2\approx \theta/2-\frac{1}{6}(\theta/2)^3

Similarly cos 2theta.


Is it also allowable to use

sin212θ=1cosθ2 \sin^2 \dfrac{1}{2} \theta = \dfrac{1 - \cos \theta}{2}
Original post by StUdEnTIGCSE
Is it also allowable to use

sin212θ=1cosθ2 \sin^2 \dfrac{1}{2} \theta = \dfrac{1 - \cos \theta}{2}


It's a valid identity, so yes.

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