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5.2 Proving Trigonometric Identities

TIPS to assist in proving an identity:

 Your job is to prove one side of an identity is equal to the other so you will only work on one side of
the identity, so…
 Start with the more complicated side and try to transform it to the simpler side. More complicated can
mean the side that is “longer” or has more complex expressions. Addition/subtraction are generally
more complicated than multiplication.
 If you can simplify an expression by multiplying, then do so. (eg. sin x  cot x  1  sin x cot x  sin x )
 If you have a polynomial over a single term, then you can “split it” into several fractions.
sin x  1 sin x 1
(eg.   )
cos x cos x cos x
 If you have an expression, that involves fractions, find the lowest common denominator.
1 1 cos x sin x cos x  sin x
(eg.     )
sin x cos x cos x sin x cos x sin x sin x cos x
 When in doubt, convert everything into sines and cosines
 Sometimes, you can simplify one side then switch to the other side and simplify it to show that it’s an
identity.

Ex.1. Prove the identity.

𝑥 2 −1 𝑥 2 −1
a. − =2
𝑥−1 𝑥+1

cot 2 x
 cot x  sec x  tan x 
b. 1  csc x
c.  sin x  cot x  cos x tan x   cos x  sin 2 x

sec2   1 sin 

d. sin  1  sin 2 

2 1 1
 
e. cos x
2 1  sin x 1  sin x
f. tan 𝑥 + cot 𝑥 = sec 𝑥 csc 𝑥

cos 𝑡 (1+sin 𝑡)
g. =
(1−sin 𝑡) cos 𝑡