Solve for x cos(x)^2=cos(x)

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Trigonometry

$\cos^{2} (x) = \cos (x)$

Factor $\cos (x)$ out of $\cos^{2} (x) - \cos (x)$ .

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Factor $\cos (x)$ out of $\cos^{2} (x)$ .

$\cos (x) \cos (x) - \cos (x) = 0$

Factor $\cos (x)$ out of $- \cos (x)$ .

$\cos (x) \cos (x) + \cos (x) \cdot - 1 = 0$

Factor $\cos (x)$ out of $\cos (x) \cos (x) + \cos (x) \cdot - 1$ .

$\cos (x) (\cos (x) - 1) = 0$

If any individual factor on the left side of the equation is equal to $0$ , the entire expression will be equal to $0$ .

$\cos (x) = 0$

$\cos (x) - 1 = 0$

Set the first factor equal to $0$ and solve.

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Set the first factor equal to $0$ .

$\cos (x) = 0$

Take the inverse cosine of both sides of the equation to extract $x$ from inside the cosine.

$x = \arccos (0)$

The exact value of $\arccos (0)$ is $\frac{π}{2}$ .

$x = \frac{π}{2}$

The cosine function is positive in the first and fourth quadrants. To find the second solution, subtract the reference angle from $2 π$ to find the solution in the fourth quadrant.

$x = 2 π - \frac{π}{2}$

Simplify $2 π - \frac{π}{2}$ .

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To write $\frac{2 π}{1}$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{2}{2}$ .

$x = \frac{2 π}{1} \cdot \frac{2}{2} - \frac{π}{2}$

Write each expression with a common denominator of $2$ , by multiplying each by an appropriate factor of $1$ .

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Combine.

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 2}{1 \cdot 2} - \frac{π}{2}$

Multiply $2$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 2}{2} - \frac{π}{2}$

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$x = \frac{2 π \cdot 2 - π}{2}$

Simplify the numerator.

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Multiply $2$ by $2$ .

$x = \frac{4 π - π}{2}$

Subtract $π$ from $4 π$ .

$x = \frac{3 π}{2}$

Find the period.

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The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{2 π}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{2 π}{| b |}$

Replace $b$ with $1$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{2 π}{| 1 |}$

Solve the equation.

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The absolute value is the distance between a number and zero. The distance between $0$ and $1$ is $1$ .

$\frac{2 π}{1}$

Divide $2 π$ by $1$ .

$2 π$

The period of the $\cos (x)$ function is $2 π$ so values will repeat every $2 π$ radians in both directions.

$x = \frac{π}{2} + 2 π n, \frac{3 π}{2} + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

Set the next factor equal to $0$ and solve.

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Set the next factor equal to $0$ .

$\cos (x) - 1 = 0$

Add $1$ to both sides of the equation.

$\cos (x) = 1$

Take the inverse cosine of both sides of the equation to extract $x$ from inside the cosine.

$x = \arccos (1)$

The exact value of $\arccos (1)$ is $0$ .

$x = 0$

The cosine function is positive in the first and fourth quadrants. To find the second solution, subtract the reference angle from $2 π$ to find the solution in the fourth quadrant.

$x = 2 π - 0$

Subtract $0$ from $2 π$ .

$x = 2 π$

Find the period.

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The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{2 π}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{2 π}{| b |}$

Replace $b$ with $1$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{2 π}{| 1 |}$

Solve the equation.

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The absolute value is the distance between a number and zero. The distance between $0$ and $1$ is $1$ .

$\frac{2 π}{1}$

Divide $2 π$ by $1$ .

$2 π$

The period of the $\cos (x)$ function is $2 π$ so values will repeat every $2 π$ radians in both directions.

$x = 2 π n, 2 π + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

The final solution is all the values that make $\cos (x) (\cos (x) - 1) = 0$ true.

$x = \frac{π}{2} + 2 π n, \frac{3 π}{2} + 2 π n, 2 π n, 2 π + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

Consolidate the answers.

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Consolidate $\frac{π}{2} + 2 π n$ and $\frac{3 π}{2} + 2 π n$ to $\frac{π}{2} + π n$ .

$x = \frac{π}{2} + π n, 2 π n, 2 π + 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

Consolidate $2 π n$ and $2 π + 2 π n$ to $2 π n$ .

$x = \frac{π}{2} + π n, 2 π n$ , for any integer $n$

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