Find the Exact Value cos(255 degrees )

$\cos (255 °)$

Step 1

Apply the reference angle by finding the angle with equivalent trig values in the first quadrant. Make the expression negative because cosine is negative in the third quadrant.

$- \cos (75)$

Step 2

Split $75$ into two angles where the values of the six trigonometric functions are known.

$- \cos (30 + 45)$

Step 3

Apply the sum of angles identity $\cos (x + y) = \cos (x) \cos (y) - \sin (x) \sin (y)$ .

$- (\cos (30) \cos (45) - \sin (30) \sin (45))$

Step 4

The exact value of $\cos (30)$ is $\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \cos (45) - \sin (30) \sin (45))$

Step 5

The exact value of $\cos (45)$ is $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} - \sin (30) \sin (45))$

Step 6

The exact value of $\sin (30)$ is $\frac{1}{2}$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} - \frac{1}{2} \sin (45))$

Step 7

The exact value of $\sin (45)$ is $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} - \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2})$

Step 8

Simplify $- (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} - \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2})$ .

Simplify each term.

Multiply $\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ .

Multiply $\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}$ by $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{3} \sqrt{2}}{2 \cdot 2} - \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2})$

Combine using the product rule for radicals.

$- (\frac{\sqrt{3 \cdot 2}}{2 \cdot 2} - \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2})$

Multiply $3$ by $2$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{6}}{2 \cdot 2} - \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2})$

Multiply $2$ by $2$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{6}}{4} - \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2})$

Multiply $- \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ .

Multiply $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ by $\frac{1}{2}$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{6}}{4} - \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2 \cdot 2})$

Multiply $2$ by $2$ .

$- (\frac{\sqrt{6}}{4} - \frac{\sqrt{2}}{4})$

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$- \frac{\sqrt{6} - \sqrt{2}}{4}$

Step 9

The result can be shown in multiple forms.

Exact Form:

$- \frac{\sqrt{6} - \sqrt{2}}{4}$

Decimal Form:

$- 0.25881904 \dots$

Find the Exact Value cos(255 degrees )

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