How do you find two solutions of the equations sectheta=-2secθ=2?

1 Answer
Jan 19, 2017

Two possible solutions are theta=120^@θ=120 and theta=240^@θ=240

Explanation:

By definition sec=("hypotenuse")/("adjacent side")sec=hypotenuseadjacent side
for a triangle in standard position.

The "hypotenuse"hypotenuse is always taken to be positive,
so if sec(theta)sec(θ) is negative, the "adjacent side"adjacent side must be on the negative X-axis.

The abs("hypotenuse"):abs("adjacent side")|hypotenuse|:|adjacent side| ratio of 2:12:1
implies one of the common trigonometric reference angles, namely 60^@60

Since a straight line =180^@=180, the common solutions follow from the image below:
enter image source here

Adding multiples of 360^@360 to either of these solutions, would give you further (but equivalent) solutions.