If $\sin \left(\theta^{\circ}-\alpha\right), \sin \theta$ and $\sin (\theta+\alpha)$ are in H.P., then the…

If $\sin \left(\theta^{\circ}-\alpha\right), \sin \theta$ and $\sin (\theta+\alpha)$ are in H.P., then the value of $\cos ^2 \theta$ is
  1. $1-2 \cos ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2}$
  2. $1+2 \cos ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2}$
  3. $1-4 \cos ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2}$
  4. $\quad 1+4 \cos ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2}$

Solution

$\sin (\theta-\alpha), \sin \theta$ and $\sin (\theta+\alpha)$ are in H.P. $\Rightarrow \frac{1}{\sin (\theta-\alpha)}, \frac{1}{\sin \theta}, \frac{1}{\sin (\theta+\alpha)}$ will be in A.P. $\begin{aligned} \therefore \quad & \frac{2}{\sin \theta}=\frac{1}{\sin (\theta-\alpha)}+\frac{1}{\sin (\theta+\alpha)} \\ & \Rightarrow \frac{2}{\sin \theta}=\frac{\sin (\theta+\alpha)+\sin (\theta-\alpha)}{\sin (\theta-\alpha) \sin (\theta+\alpha)}\end{aligned}$ $\begin{aligned} & \Rightarrow \frac{2}{\sin \theta}=\frac{2 \sin \theta \cos \alpha}{\sin ^2 \theta-\sin ^2 \alpha} \\ & \Rightarrow \sin ^2 \theta-\sin ^2 \alpha=\sin ^2 \theta \cos \alpha \\ & \Rightarrow \sin ^2 \theta(1-\cos \alpha)=\sin ^2 \alpha\end{aligned}$ $\begin{aligned} & \Rightarrow \sin ^2 \theta\left(2 \sin ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2}\right)=4 \sin ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2} \cos ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2} \\ & \Rightarrow 1-\cos ^2 \theta=2 \cos ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2} \\ & \Rightarrow \cos ^2 \theta=1-2 \cos ^2 \frac{\alpha}{2}\end{aligned}$

Asked in: MHT CET 2024 (03 May Shift 2)

Practice more Sequences and Series questions on Aicharya