Q. 96 - Precalculus Enhanced with Graphing Utilities

Question

The graphs of the given pairs of functions intersect infinitely many times. Find four of these points of intersection. 

$$\begin{gathered} y=\sin x \\ y=\frac{1}{2} \end{gathered}$$

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

The four points of intersection are

$(\frac{\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2}),(\frac{5\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2}),(\frac{13\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2}),(\frac{17\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2})$.

Step 1. Given Information

We are given two equations $y=\sin x$ and $y=\frac{1}{2}$.

We need to find any four points of intersection of the two graphs.

We will graph the two equations and then find the first point of intersection and then using the properties of sine function we will find the other three points.

Step 2. Graph the functions

The graph of the two equations is given as

It can be seen that the line and the sinusoidal curve intersect each other at infinitely many points and the first point of intersection is $(\frac{\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2})$.

Step 3. Find the other points

The sine function is a cyclic function. So

$$\begin{gathered} \sin x=\sin (\mathrm{\pi }-\mathrm{x}) \\ \mathrm{sinx}=\sin (2\mathrm{\pi }+\mathrm{x}) \\ \mathrm{sinx}=\sin (3\mathrm{\pi }-\mathrm{x}) \end{gathered}$$

So next intersection points are

$$\begin{gathered} x=\mathrm{\pi }-\frac{\mathrm{\pi }}{6} \\ \mathrm{x}=\frac{5\mathrm{\pi }}{6} \end{gathered}$$

or

$$\begin{gathered} x=2\mathrm{\pi }+\frac{\mathrm{\pi }}{6} \\ \mathrm{x}=\frac{13\mathrm{\pi }}{6} \end{gathered}$$

or

$$\begin{gathered} x=3\mathrm{\pi }-\frac{\mathrm{\pi }}{6} \\ \mathrm{x}=\frac{17\mathrm{\pi }}{6} \end{gathered}$$

So the four intersecting points are $(\frac{\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2}),(\frac{5\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2}),(\frac{13\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2}),(\frac{17\mathrm{\pi }}{6},\frac{1}{2})$.