Does sin180+sin45=sin225?

2 Answers
Nov 25, 2016

Ehm...I do not think so...

Explanation:

I imagine the arguments in degrees so that if you plot your sin function you get:
enter image source here
As you can see:
sin(180^@)=0
while sin(45^@) is positive and sin(225^@) is negative.

I also considered the possibility to have them in radians but it doesn't work either...

Nov 25, 2016

No

Explanation:

Remember that taking the sin of something is a function that is unique only to that number (let's imagine that we're in a range of 0< theta < 2pi).

So the sin 180 is a certain value and the sin45 is a certain value. The sin 225 is also a separate certain value. You cannot find the sin of two different values, and add them up to be the sin of their sum.

Think of it this way:

sqrt4 + sqrt25 = sqrt29
2+5=sqrt29
7cancel(=)sqrt29

In the same idea, sin does not work that way.

Like Gio explained, the graphs are also different.

But how can you trust just plain words? Let's actually work out this problem.

sin180 = 0

sin(45) = sqrt2/2

sin225 = -sqrt2/2

So:

sin180 + sin45 = sin225

0 + sqrt2/2 cancel(=) -sqrt2/2

And that's why you cant work with sin like that!