How do you simplify $cos^2x(sec^2x-1)$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2017-01-03T01:19:03

$sin^2x$ .

Rewrite $sec^2x$ as $1/cos^2x$ by the identity $secx = 1/cosx$ .

$=cos^2x(1/cos^2x- 1)$

$= 1 - cos^2x$

Use the identity $sin^2x + cos^2x = 1$ solved for $sin^2x$ to get:

$= sin^2x$

Hopefully this helps!

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