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Worked Examples · Example 15

Q.Prove that cos⁡(π4+x)+cos⁡(π4−x)=2 cos⁡x\cos\left(\frac{\pi}{4}+x\right) + \cos\left(\frac{\pi}{4}-x\right) = \sqrt{2}\,\cos x.

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The identity is proved by applying the cosine sum-to-product formula: cos⁡A+cos⁡B=2cos⁡A+B2cos⁡A−B2\cos A + \cos B = 2\cos\frac{A+B}{2}\cos\frac{A-B}{2}. Substituting A=π4+xA = \frac{\pi}{4}+x and B=π4−xB = \frac{\pi}{4}-x simplifies directly to 2cos⁡x\sqrt{2}\cos x.

The key insight here is that the two angles are symmetric about π4\frac{\pi}{4} — one is xx more, the other xx less. When you add two cosines of such symmetric angles, the sum collapses into a single cosine term times a constant. The most efficient tool for this is the sum-to-product identity, which converts a sum of two cosines into a product of cosines.

Let’s walk through it step by step.

  1. Recall the sum-to-product identity for cosine. For any two angles AA and BB:

cos⁡A+cos⁡B=2cos⁡A+B2cos⁡A−B2.\cos A + \cos B = 2\cos\frac{A+B}{2}\cos\frac{A-B}{2}.

This identity comes from the cosine addition formulas — it’s essentially a reverse-engineered factorization. It’s especially useful when AA and BB are symmetric, because then A+B2\frac{A+B}{2} becomes a constant and A−B2\frac{A-B}{2} becomes a simple multiple of xx.

  1. Identify AA and BB in our problem. Here:

A=π4+x,B=π4−x.A = \frac{\pi}{4} + x, \quad B = \frac{\pi}{4} - x.

  1. Compute A+B2\frac{A+B}{2}.

A+B2=(π4+x)+(π4−x)2=π22=π4.\frac{A+B}{2} = \frac{\left(\frac{\pi}{4}+x\right) + \left(\frac{\pi}{4}-x\right)}{2} = \frac{\frac{\pi}{2}}{2} = \frac{\pi}{4}.

The xx terms cancel perfectly — that’s the symmetry at work. So the first cosine factor becomes cos⁡π4\cos\frac{\pi}{4}.

  1. Compute A−B2\frac{A-B}{2}.

A−B2=(π4+x)−(π4−x)2=2x2=x.\frac{A-B}{2} = \frac{\left(\frac{\pi}{4}+x\right) - \left(\frac{\pi}{4}-x\right)}{2} = \frac{2x}{2} = x.

The π4\frac{\pi}{4} terms cancel, leaving just xx. So the second cosine factor is cos⁡x\cos x.

  1. Apply the identity. Substituting into the sum-to-product formula: cos⁡(π4+x)+cos⁡(π4−x)=2cos⁡π4cos⁡x.\cos\left(\frac{\pi}{4}+x\right) + \cos\left(\frac{\pi}{4}-x\right) = 2\cos\frac{\pi}{4}\cos x. …

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