The minimum value of $f(x)=a^{2} \cos ^{2} x+b^{2} \sin ^{2} x$ if $a^{2}>b^{2}$, is

The minimum value of $f(x)=a^{2} \cos ^{2} x+b^{2} \sin ^{2} x$ if $a^{2}>b^{2}$, is
  1. $a^{2}-b^{2}$
  2. $b^{2}$
  3. $a^{2}+b^{2}$
  4. $a^{2}$

Solution

Given $f(x)$ $=a^{2} \cos ^{2} x+b^{2} \sin ^{2} x$ $=a^{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos 2 x}{2}\right)+b^{2}\left(\frac{1-\cos 2 x}{2}\right)$ $=\left(\frac{a^{2}+b^{2}}{2}\right)+\left(\frac{a^{2}-b^{2}}{2}\right) \cos 2 x$ $f(x)$ will be maximum when $\cos 2 x=1$ $\mathrm{f}(\mathrm{x})$ will be minimum when $\cos 2 \mathrm{x}=-1$ Hence minimum value of $f(x)$ is $\begin{aligned} f(x) &=\frac{a^{2}+b^{2}}{2}+\left(\frac{a^{2}-b^{2}}{2}\right)(-1) \\ &=\frac{a^{2}+b^{2}}{2}-\frac{a^{2}-b^{2}}{2}=b^{2} \end{aligned}$

Asked in: MHT CET 2020 (20 Oct Shift 1)

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