How do you find exact value of ##cos (pi/ 4)##?
February 20th, 2023
Let’s first convert to degrees.
The conversion ratio between degrees and radians is ##180/pi##.
##pi/4 xx 180/pi = 45^@##
Now, we must think of the special triangle that contains a ##45^@## angle. This would be the following triangle.
The definition of cos is adjacent/hypotenuse. Therefore, our ratio is ##1/sqrt(2)##. However, often, teachers want the denominator to be rationalized, or be a rational number. Since the expression is a monomial, we multiply the entire expression by the denominator.
##1/sqrt(2) xx sqrt(2)/sqrt(2)##
=##sqrt(2)/2##
Hopefully this helps.