# urgent help needed! simplifying expressions...

• October 8th 2008, 07:47 PM
Laura Vinnedge
urgent help needed! simplifying expressions...
HELP! I'm in Math 12 and have a unit exam soon; the questions on my review all seem to be ones I don't have in my notes and can't understand. A couple I've been struggling with for an hour. Can anyone explain how to do these?

1. sec(-1)-sec(-x)sin*squared*x

So far, I got to:

=sec-1+secxsin*squared*x

=___1____ -1 + __1sin*squared*x__
cosx ************* cosx
=___1___ - __sin*squared*x__
cosx ************* cosx
= __1-cos*squared*x__
cosx

...and now I'm stuck! (Worried) What went wrong?

2. __cos*squared*x__
cot*squared*x
=___-cos*squared*x__
cos *squared*x
= 1

...and, um, that's it. Thx!!!
• October 8th 2008, 07:54 PM
icemanfan
First, let me make sure I understand the problems.

Is (1) $\sec (-1) + \sec x \sin^2 x$?

Is (2) $\frac{\cos^2 x}{\cot^2 x}$?
• October 8th 2008, 08:27 PM
Laura Vinnedge
Hi there!

Um, sort of... 1. sec(-x)-sec(-x)sin*squared*x
2. cos*squared*(-x)
over
cot*squared*x

(sorry, havn't figured out how to get a square in there yet)

What's going on with thoses pesky brackets? How do they work into the equation properly?

THX!!
Laura