Triple Angle Formulas/Cosine/Proof 1


It has been suggested that this page or section be merged into Triple Angle Formulas/Cosine/Proof 3.
To discuss this page in more detail, feel free to use the talk page.
When this work has been completed, you may remove this instance of {{Mergeto}} from the code.


Theorem

$\cos 3 \theta = 4 \cos^3 \theta - 3 \cos \theta$


Proof

\(\ds \cos 3 \theta\) \(=\) \(\ds \cos \paren {2 \theta + \theta}\)
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds \cos 2 \theta \cos \theta - \sin 2 \theta \sin \theta\) Cosine of Sum
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds \paren {\cos^2 \theta - \sin^2 \theta} \cos \theta - \paren {2 \sin \theta \cos \theta} \sin \theta\) Double Angle Formula for Cosine and Double Angle Formula for Sine
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds \cos^3 \theta - \sin^2 \theta \cos \theta - 2 \sin^2 \theta \cos \theta\)
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds \cos^3 \theta - \paren {1 - \cos^2 \theta} \cos \theta - 2 \paren {1 - \cos^2 \theta} \cos \theta\) Sum of Squares of Sine and Cosine
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds \cos^3 \theta - \cos \theta + \cos^3 \theta - 2 \cos \theta + 2 \cos^3 \theta\) multiplying out
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds 4 \cos^3 \theta - 3 \cos \theta\) gathering terms

$\blacksquare$


Sources

  • 1953: L. Harwood Clarke: A Note Book in Pure Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): $\text V$. Trigonometry: Two more useful formulae