solve for a

viiartz

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Hi all, I'm new to this forum and I have a small question

How do I transpose the formula below so that I can calculate what "a" is?

0=sin(a+1) or sin(a+1) = 0 (zero)

Maybe I didn't explain this to well, I need to transpose the formula y=sin(p+x) where y=0 and x=100 so that i can work out what p is.

Math was never my strongest point :(

In advance, thanks!
 
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Suppose you had sin(x)= 0. What values of x make sin(x)= 0?

You know I made a mistake,sorry. I posted the wrong formula, it should have been y=sin(p*x).

What I want to know is what P would need to be for y to equal 0 when x is equal to 1
if we use these values x=1 p=12.56637 then y=-0.000000614, the question is can y ever be zero?
 
Yes it can. However, the rational values you are plugging in certainly wont do it. As HallsofIvy asked, what values of x make sin(x)=0? That will give you answers for p.
 
Yes it can. However, the rational values you are plugging in certainly wont do it. As HallsofIvy asked, what values of x make sin(x)=0? That will give you answers for p.

Not sure, I've attached the excel file that I have been using to work out values in the hope that it might help!

In the original post, what I was trying to ask was to transpose the formula y=sin(px) to make p the subject and that's really all I wanted.
 

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Not sure, I've attached the excel file that I have been using to work out values in the hope that it might help!

In the original post, what I was trying to ask was to transpose the formula y=sin(px) to make p the subject and that's really all I wanted.

y = sin(p*x)

p*x = sin-1(y)

x = (1/p) * sin-1(y)
 
How did you get those values in the Excel file? Using a calculator or excel function? Well, then you have access to the inverse function! But if you are going to work with the sine function, you surely know, without having to use a calculator, what "sin(0)" or "\(\displaystyle sin(\pi)\)" is. The real point is that you cannot do a problem asking you to solve an equation involving the sine function without (a) knowing how to solve an equation in general and, (b) knowing what the "sine" function is.
 
How did you get those values in the Excel file? Using a calculator or excel function? Well, then you have access to the inverse function! But if you are going to work with the sine function, you surely know, without having to use a calculator, what "sin(0)" or "\(\displaystyle sin(\pi)\)" is. The real point is that you cannot do a problem asking you to solve an equation involving the sine function without (a) knowing how to solve an equation in general and, (b) knowing what the "sine" function is.

excel function. I copied the formula =sin($G$2*b2) in c2 right down to c102.

Basically i wanted to be able to fit exactly, any number of cycles of the sine wave to any point on the y axis. So if I want, say 4 cycles going from y=0 to y=2. The 4 cycles would be stretched so that the last cycle would cross the y axis (in this case y=100) where x=0. Since I was using the formula sin(p*x) to work out y, i thought I could just transpose the formula to make p the subject and that would give me the value to multiple x to fit the 4 cycles between the 0 to 100 points on the y axis.

I don't even know if that makes sense.:(
 
excel function. I copied the formula =sin($G$2*b2) in c2 right down to c102.

Basically i wanted to be able to fit exactly, any number of cycles of the sine wave to any point on the y axis. So if I want, say 4 cycles going from y=0 to y=2. The 4 cycles would be stretched so that the last cycle would cross the y axis (in this case y=100) where x=0. Since I was using the formula sin(p*x) to work out y, i thought I could just transpose the formula to make p the subject and that would give me the value to multiple x to fit the 4 cycles between the 0 to 100 points on the y axis.

I don't even know if that makes sense.:(
The question is very fuzzy. First, I am not sure what YOU mean by cycle. Is it the function starts at 0, goes to plus 1, then goes to 0, then goes to minus 1, and finally goes to 0. Or is it the function starts at 0, goes to 1, and then goes to 0. The standard meaning of a cycle is the first of these.

Second, y = 0 to y = 2 and y = 100 makes no sense at all.

Third, the standard way of showing the sine function would be y = sin(x), and so y would range from minus 1 to plus 1. If you want the maximum value of y to be a and the minimum to be b, the function you are looking for is

\(\displaystyle \dfrac{a - b}{2} * \left(sin(something) + 1\right) + b = \dfrac{(a - b) * sin(something)}{2} + \dfrac{a - b}{2} + b =
\dfrac{(a - b) * sin(something) + a + b}{2}.\)

Notice that if b = - a the formula simplifies to \(\displaystyle a * sin(something).\)

Fourth, if you want four cycles from x = to x = 4, you want one cycle from x = 0 to x = 1. You can get that with

\(\displaystyle sin(something) = sin(2 \pi x).\)

In general if the first cycle starts at x = 0 and ends at x = a > 0, then the formula is \(\displaystyle sin\left(\dfrac{2 \pi x}{a}\right).\)
 
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