Find all angles in a range given specific output - Trigonometry

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Question

Find all positive values of less than for which .

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Answer

At first glance, you may think that this problem has infinite answers, since there would be infinitely many negative coterminal angles that could satisfy this; however, notice that the question asks only for positive values of . In other words, this question is simply asking for values of between and that satisfy this equation.

First, let's think about where the cosine function is negative. Per the chart below, it will be in Quadrants II and III.

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The reference angle for each angle solution will have its cosine equal to and is . Consult the chart of reference angles below for Quadrants II and III:

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QII:

QIII:

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