In an example I had to prove that $\sin^2(x)+\cos^2(x)=1$ which is fairly easy using the unit circle. My teacher then asked me to show the same thing using the following power series:$$\sin(x)=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{(-1)^kx^{2k+1}}{(2k+1)!}$$ and $$\cos(x)=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{(-1)^kx^{2k}}{(2k)!}$$ However, if I now take the squares of these values I get a really messy result that I can't simplify to 1.
Could anyone give me a hint on how to deal with this question?
On
Hint: Differentiate the power series term by term. We get that (surprise!) the derivative of $\sin x$ is $\cos x$, and the derivative of $\cos x$ is $-\sin x$. Let $f(x)=\sin^2 x+\cos^2 x$. Show its derivative is $0$. Thus $f(x)$ is constant.
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It is not necessary to use derivatives. It is much simpler if we connect the series for $\sin x$ and $\cos x$ with the series of $\exp(x)$. From the given series it is easy to show that $\cos x + i\sin x = \exp(ix)$ and $\cos x - i\sin x = \exp(-ix)$ where $$\exp(z) = \sum_{n = 0}^{\infty}\frac{z^{n}}{n!}$$ and using binomial theorem it is easy to show that series of $\exp(z)$ satisfies $$\exp(z + z') = \exp(z)\cdot \exp(z')$$ and therefore $$\begin{aligned}\cos^{2}x + \sin^{2}x &= (\cos x + i\sin x)(\cos x - i\sin x)\\&= \exp(ix)\exp(-ix)\\&= \exp(0)\\&=1\end{aligned}$$
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Define $f: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ by $$ f(x) = \text{sin}^2(x) + \text{cos}^2(x). $$ From the chain rule it follows that $$ f'(x) = 2\cdot \text{sin}(x) \cdot \text{sin'}(x) + 2\cdot \text{cos}(x) \cdot \text{cos'}(x) = 2\cdot \text{sin}(x) \cdot \text{cos}(x) + 2\cdot \text{cos}(x) \cdot (-\text{sin}(x)) = 0, $$ as we know that $\text{sin'}(x) = \text{cos}(x)$ and $\text{cos'}(x) = -\text{sin}(x)$. We will now show that if the derivative equals zero, the function is constant, using the Mean-value theorem. Let $a,b\in \mathbb{R}$, with $a<b$. As $f$ is differentiable, and hence also continuous, on $\mathbb{R}$, we know there exists a $c\in (a,b)$ satisfying $$ f'(c) = \frac{f(b)-f(a)}{b-a}. $$ As we know that $f'(c) = 0$ for all $c \in \mathbb{R}$, multiplying both sides of the equation by $b-a$ yields $f(b)-f(a)=0$. Equivalently, $f(b) = f(a)$ for all $a,b\in \mathbb{R}$, where $a<b$. Hence $f$ is constant on $(a,b)$. Note that $$f(0)= \text{sin}^2(0) + \text{cos}^2(0) = ( \sum_{k=0}^\infty (-1)^k \cdot \frac{1}{(2k+1)!} 0^{2k+1} )^2 + ( \sum_{k=0}^\infty (-1)^k \cdot \frac{1}{(2k)!} 0^{2k} )^2 = 0 + 1 = 1, $$ as only the first term of the cosine power series yields a nonzero value, namely 1 ($(-1)^0 \cdot \frac{1}{(0)!}0^0=1$, since $(-1)^0=1$, $0!=1$ and $0^0=1$).
In conclusion, for all $x \in \mathbb{R}$, $f(x)=1$, so that $$ \sin ^{2}(x)+\cos ^{2}(x)=1. $$
On
There is an easy solution using complex numbers (but not the complex exponential): $$ \begin{align} \sin^2 x + \cos^2 x & = \left(\cos x + i \sin x\right)\left(\cos x - i \sin x\right) \\ &=\left(\sum_{j=0}^{\infty} (-1)^j \frac{x^{2j}}{(2j)!} + i \sum_{j=0}^{\infty} (-1)^j \frac{x^{2j+1}}{(2j+1)!}\right)\left(\sum_{j=0}^{\infty} (-1)^j \frac{x^{2j}}{(2j)!} - i \sum_{j=0}^{\infty} (-1)^j \frac{x^{2j+1}}{(2j+1)!}\right)\\ &=\left(\sum_{k=0}^{\infty} i^k \frac{x^{k}}{k!}\right) \cdot \left(\sum_{k=0}^{\infty} (-i)^k \frac{x^{k}}{k!}\right). \\ \end{align} $$ (Of course these last two factors are equal to $e^{ix}$ and $e^{-ix}$, but we do not need this fact: we are just manipulating power series here.) We need to show that the above product is $1$, so that the coefficient of $x^\ell$ in the above product is $1$ if $\ell=0$ and $0$ otherwise.
Expanding the product, we get that the coefficient of $x^\ell$ equals $$ \sum_{k_1+k_2=\ell} \frac{i^{k_1}}{k_1!} \cdot \frac{(-i)^{k_2}}{k_2!}=\sum_{k_1+k_2=\ell} (-1)^{k_2} \frac{i^{\ell}}{k_1!k_2!} = \sum_{k_1=0}^\ell (-1)^{\ell-k_1}\frac{i^{\ell}}{\ell!} \binom{\ell}{k_1}. $$ In view of the well-known binomial coefficient identity $\sum_{k=0}^{\ell} (-1)^k \binom{\ell}{k}=0$ for any integer $\ell>0$, which may be obtained by expanding the identity $(1-1)^{\ell}=0$, the above sum vanishes when $\ell>0$, and when $\ell=0$ it equals $1$, as can be computed directly. Which is precisely what we had to show.
Hint: Differentiate $\cos^2x+\sin^2x$, and notice that it is $2\cos x\cos'x+2\sin x\sin'x$. Evaluate the expressions of $\sin'x$ and $\cos'x$, and notice that they are the same as those of $\cos x$ and $-\sin x$ respectively. Then you get $\big(\cos^2x+\sin^2x\big)'=0\iff\cos^2x+\sin^2x=$ constant. How do we guess which constant exactly ? By computing $\sin^20+\cos^20$.