Question #ed504

2 Answers
Nov 23, 2016

We start by squaring both sides to get rid of the square root.

(costheta- sin theta)^2 = (sqrt(cos(pi/4 + theta))^2

cos^2theta - 2costhetasintheta + sin^2theta = cos(pi/4 + theta)

We now use the identities cos^2beta + sin^2beta = 1 and cos(A + B) = cosAcosB - sinAsinB to simplify.

1 - 2costhetasintheta = cos(pi/4)costheta - sin(pi/4)sin theta

1 - 2costhetasintheta = costheta/sqrt(2) - sintheta/sqrt2

As you can see, the two sides aren't equal, so the identity is false.

Hopefully this helps!

Nov 23, 2016

I think the question should be-
Prove that

costheta-sintheta=sqrt2cos(pi/4+theta)

LHS

=costheta-sintheta

=sqrt2(1/sqrt2costheta-1/sqrt2sintheta)

=sqrt2(cos(pi/4)costheta-sin(pi/4)sintheta)

=sqrt2cos(pi/4+theta)=RHS

Proved