SOLUTION: cosecant theta + cotangent theta * cosecant theta - cotangent theta = 1

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Question 223721: cosecant theta + cotangent theta * cosecant theta - cotangent theta = 1
Answer by jsmallt9(3758) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
(Algebra'com's formula software doesn't "do" theta's for some reason. So I will use t instead.)
Since this problem doesn't work out very well as you've written it, I going to assume that there are supposed to be parentheses:
%28csc%28t%29+%2B+cot%28t%29%29%28csc%28t%29+-+cot%28t%29%29+=+1
If this is wrong, stop reading.

When you don't see a better way to solve a problem in Trig., it is often helpful to rewrite the expressions in terms of sin and cos. So we will be replacing csc(t) with 1/sin(t) and cot(t) with cos(t)/sin(t):

To multiply this it helps if you recognize that it fits the pattern: %28a%2Bb%29%28a-b%29+=+a%5E2+-+b%5E2 with "a" being 1/sin(t) and "b" being cos(t)/sin(t). Using this pattern (or multiplying out the long way with FOIL and combining like terms) we get:
%281%2Fsin%28t%29%29%5E2+-+%28cos%28t%29%2Fsin%28t%29%29%5E2+=+1
which simplifies to:
1%2F%28sin%28t%29%29%5E2+-+%28cos%28t%29%29%5E2%2F%28sin%28t%29%29%5E2+=+1
The fractions have the same denominator so we can subtract them:
%281+-+%28cos%28t%29%29%5E2%29%2F%28sin%28t%29%29%5E2+=+1
Since 1+-+%28cos%28t%29%29%5E2+=+%28sin%28t%29%29%5E2 the numerator becomes:
%28sin%28t%29%29%5E2%2F%28sin%28t%29%29%5E2+=+1
And the fraction cancels leaving
1+=+1
And with this final equation, since 1 always equal 1, shows that your original equation is also always true. We call this an identity.