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Calculate $$\dfrac{4-5\sin\alpha}{2+3\cos\alpha}$$ if $\cot\dfrac{\alpha}{2}=-\dfrac32$.

My first approach was to somehow write the given expression only in terms of the given $\cot\frac{\alpha}{2}$ and just put in the value $\left(-\dfrac{3}{2}\right)$. Now I don't think that's possible because we have constants (4 and 2). My try, though: $$\dfrac{4-5\sin\alpha}{2+3\cos\alpha}=\dfrac{4-5.2\sin\frac{\alpha}{2}\cos\frac{\alpha}{2}}{2+3\left(\cos^2\frac{\alpha}{2}-\sin^2\frac{\alpha}{2}\right)}=\dfrac{4-10\sin\frac{\alpha}{2}\cos\frac{\alpha}{2}}{2+3\cos^2\frac{\alpha}{2}-3\sin^2\frac{\alpha}{2}}$$ My second idea was to find the value of the trig functions of $\alpha$. I don't know if this is the most straight-forward approach, but $$\cot\alpha=\dfrac{\cot^2\frac{\alpha}{2}-1}{2\cot\frac{\alpha}{2}}=\dfrac{\frac94-1}{-2.\frac32}=-\dfrac{5}{12}.$$ Am I now supposed just to find the values of $\sin\alpha$ and $\cos\alpha$? Nothing more elegant? We would have $\dfrac{\cos\alpha}{\sin\alpha}=-\dfrac{5}{12}\Rightarrow\cos\alpha=-\dfrac{5}{12}\sin\alpha$ and putting into $\sin^2\alpha+\cos^2\alpha=1$ we'd get $\cos\alpha=\pm\dfrac{12}{13}$.

kormoran
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    You can draw a right triangle with the sides $5,12,13$ and find $\sin \alpha$ and $\cos \alpha $ from it. (Also we should consider which quadrant $\alpha$ lies on, it is important to indicate the sign of $\sin \alpha $ , $\cos \alpha$). – Etemon Sep 05 '22 at 18:00
  • If $\cot\theta=t$, then $\tan\theta=1/t$, and $\sin\theta=1/\sqrt{1+t^2}$ and $\cos\theta=t/\sqrt{1+t^2}$. In this case, we have $t=-3/2$ when $\theta=\alpha/2$. – Andrew Chin Sep 05 '22 at 18:12

3 Answers3

4

$$\dfrac{4-5\sin\alpha}{2+3\cos\alpha}=\dfrac{4-5.2\sin\frac{\alpha}{2}\cos\frac{\alpha}{2}}{2+3\left(1-2\sin^2\frac{\alpha}2\right)}=\dfrac{4-10\sin\frac{\alpha}2\cos\frac{\alpha}2}{5-6\sin^2\frac{\alpha}2}$$Now divide numerator and denominator by $\sin^2\frac{\alpha}2$, $$\dfrac{\dfrac{4}{\sin^2\frac{\alpha}2}-10\cot\frac{\alpha}2}{\dfrac5{\sin^2\frac{\alpha}2}-6}=\dfrac{4(1+\cot^2\frac{\alpha}2)-10\cot\frac{\alpha}2}{5(1+\cot^2\frac{\alpha}2)-6}=\frac{112}{41}$$

Etemon
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You just use the trigonometrical formulae: $sina=\dfrac{2tan(a/2)}{1+tan^{2}(a/2)}$ and

$cosa=\dfrac{1-tan^{2}(a/2)}{1+tan^{2}(a/2)}$ and set $\,\,\,tan(a/2)=\dfrac{1}{cot(a/2)}=-\dfrac{2}{3}$.

If we put this value in the original fraction we obtain :

value=$\dfrac{102}{41}$. If my numerical calculations are correct!

2

We have
$$\cot{\frac{\alpha}{2}}=\frac{\sin \alpha}{1-\cos \alpha}=-\sqrt{\frac{1+\cos \alpha}{1-\cos \alpha}}=-\frac{3}{2} \implies \sin \alpha=1.5\cos \alpha -1.5;$$ $$3\sqrt{1-\cos \alpha}=2\sqrt{1+\cos \alpha}$$

Thus, $9(1-\cos \alpha)=4(1+\cos \alpha) \implies \cos \alpha= \frac{5}{13}$

$$\frac{4-5\sin \alpha}{2+3\cos \alpha}=\frac{4-7.5\cos \alpha+7.5}{2+3\cos \alpha}=\frac{112}{41}$$

Vasili
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