Question

Simplify: (cos^2x-1)/cosx+1

Answer 1

cos^2x-1= (cosx+1)(cosx-1)

so jus cancel out cosx+1

the answer is cosx-1

Answer 2

top is difference of 2 squares
a^2-b^2 = (a+b(a-b)

Answer 3

man - you guys rock. thank you! never done trig IDs before and all these different formulas are messing me up - I'm forgetting the basics!

Answer 4

yw - keep practicing - thats so important in maths

Answer 5

sorry jim - there are no paren. on the numerator, i just did that to show the whole thing was the numerator.....does that change the answer?

Answer 6

\[\frac{\cos ^2x -1}{\cos x}+1\]

Answer 7

?

Answer 8

no the cosx+1 is the denom.

Answer 9

(sorry i'm not familiar with the equation editor yet)

Answer 10

then they did that problem above, layla and Jim

Answer 11

so cos^2x-1 even without the paren is still the diff. of two squares?

Answer 12

parenthesis just for organization

Answer 13

bc cos^2x-1 looks like cosxcosx-1 ... or?

Answer 14

maybe i should just repost....lol