Sum and Difference Identities: Learn It 3

Use sum and difference formulas for tangent

Finding exact values for the tangent of the sum or difference of two angles is a little more complicated, but again, it is a matter of recognizing the pattern.

Finding the sum of two angles formula for tangent involves taking the quotient of the sum formulas for sine and cosine and simplifying. Recall, [latex]\tan x=\frac{\sin x}{\cos x},\cos x\ne 0[/latex].

Let’s derive the sum formula for tangent.

[latex]\begin{align}\tan \left(\alpha +\beta \right)&=\frac{\sin \left(\alpha +\beta \right)}{\cos \left(\alpha +\beta \right)} \\[1mm] &=\frac{\sin \alpha \cos \beta +\cos \alpha \sin \beta }{\cos \alpha \cos \beta -\sin \alpha \sin \beta } \\[1mm] &=\frac{\frac{\sin \alpha \cos \beta +\cos \alpha \sin \beta }{\cos \alpha \cos \beta }}{\frac{\cos \alpha \cos \beta -\sin \alpha \sin \beta }{\cos \alpha \cos \beta }} && \text{Divide the numerator and denominator by cos}\alpha \text{cos}\beta \\[1mm] &=\frac{\frac{\sin \alpha \cos \beta }{\cos \alpha \cos \beta}+\frac{\cos \alpha \sin \beta }{\cos \alpha \cos \beta }}{\frac{\cos \alpha \cos \beta }{\cos \alpha \cos \beta }-\frac{\sin \alpha \sin \beta }{\cos \alpha \cos \beta }} && \text{Split the fractions.} \\[1mm] &=\frac{\frac{\sin \alpha }{\cos \alpha }+\frac{\sin \beta }{\cos \beta }}{1-\frac{\sin \alpha \sin \beta }{\cos \alpha \cos \beta }} && \text{Cancel.} \\[1mm] &=\frac{\tan \alpha +\tan \beta }{1-\tan \alpha \tan \beta } \end{align}[/latex]

We can derive the difference formula for tangent in a similar way.

sum and difference formula for tangent

[latex]\tan \left(\alpha +\beta \right)=\frac{\tan \alpha +\tan \beta }{1-\tan \alpha \tan \beta }[/latex]

[latex]\tan \left(\alpha -\beta \right)=\frac{\tan \alpha -\tan \beta }{1+\tan \alpha \tan \beta }[/latex]

How To: Given two angles, find the tangent of the sum of the angles.

  1. Write the sum formula for tangent.
  2. Substitute the given angles into the formula.
  3. Simplify.
Find the exact value of [latex]\tan \left(\frac{\pi }{6}+\frac{\pi }{4}\right)[/latex].

Find the exact value of [latex]\tan \left(\frac{2\pi }{3}+\frac{\pi }{4}\right)[/latex].

Given [latex]\text{ }\sin \alpha =\frac{3}{5},0<\alpha <\frac{\pi }{2},\cos \beta =-\frac{5}{13},\pi <\beta <\frac{3\pi }{2}[/latex], find
  1. [latex]\sin \left(\alpha +\beta \right)[/latex]
  2. [latex]\cos \left(\alpha +\beta \right)[/latex]
  3. [latex]\tan \left(\alpha +\beta \right)[/latex]
  4. [latex]\tan \left(\alpha -\beta \right)[/latex]