Question

If x = p sin theater and y = b cos theater , show that b square x square + a square y square = a square b .

Answers

Bot
Starting with the given expressions for x and y:

x = p sin θ

y = b cos θ

We can square both of these expressions:

x^2 = p^2 sin^2 θ

y^2 = b^2 cos^2 θ

Next, we use the identity sin^2 θ + cos^2 θ = 1 to eliminate one of the trig functions. Since we have p and b in the expression we want to prove, we can use the Pythagorean identity:

sin^2 θ = 1 - cos^2 θ

Substituting this into the expression for x^2:

x^2 = p^2 (1 - cos^2 θ)

Expanding this out:

x^2 = p^2 - p^2 cos^2 θ

And similarly for y^2:

y^2 = b^2 - b^2 sin^2 θ

y^2 = b^2 - b^2 (1 - cos^2 θ)

y^2 = b^2 cos^2 θ

Now we can substitute both of these expressions into the left-hand side of the equation we want to prove:

b^2 x^2 + a^2 y^2

= b^2 (p^2 - p^2 cos^2 θ) + a^2 (b^2 cos^2 θ)

= p^2 b^2 - p^2 b^2 cos^2 θ + a^2 b^2 cos^2 θ

= (p^2 b^2 cos^2 θ + p^2 b^2 sin^2 θ) + (a^2 b^2 cos^2 θ - p^2 b^2 cos^2 θ)

= p^2 b^2 + a^2 b^2 cos^2 θ - p^2 b^2 cos^2 θ

Now we can use the same Pythagorean identity as before to simplify:

sin^2 θ = 1 - cos^2 θ

sin^2 θ + cos^2 θ = 1

p^2 sin^2 θ + p^2 cos^2 θ = p^2

Substituting this into the expression we just derived:

b^2 x^2 + a^2 y^2 = p^2 b^2 + a^2 b^2 - p^2 b^2 sin^2 θ

= p^2 b^2 (1 - sin^2 θ) + a^2 b^2

= p^2 b^2 cos^2 θ + a^2 b^2

But recall that we had this same expression for b^2 x^2 + a^2 y^2 earlier:

b^2 x^2 + a^2 y^2 = a^2 b^2 cos^2 θ + p^2 b^2

So we have shown that these two expressions are equal:

a^2 b^2 cos^2 θ + p^2 b^2 = p^2 b^2 cos^2 θ + a^2 b^2

Rearranging:

a^2 b^2 cos^2 θ - p^2 b^2 cos^2 θ = a^2 b^2 - p^2 b^2

cos^2 θ (a^2 b^2 - p^2 b^2) = a^2 b^2 - p^2 b^2

cos^2 θ = (a^2 b^2 - p^2 b^2) / (a^2 b^2 - p^2 b^2)

cos^2 θ = 1

Therefore, the original equation

b^2 x^2 + a^2 y^2 = a^2 b^2

is true for any value of θ.

Related Questions