Online Course Discussion Forum

Math Challenge III Problem 2.32

 
 
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Math Challenge III Problem 2.32
by James Shi - Thursday, July 23, 2020, 7:54 PM
 

For the $\sum_{k = 1}^{n - 1}{k\cos{\frac{2k\pi}{n}}}$ part, I was able to find a solution by pairing up terms and using trigonometric identities. However, for the $\sum_{k = 1}^{n - 1}{k\sin{\frac{2k\pi}{n}}}$ part, I do not know what to do. Are there any good strategies that I could try? Thank you.

 
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Re: Math Challenge III Problem 2.32
by Dr. Kevin Wang - Thursday, July 23, 2020, 9:17 PM
 

If you find a method for the $\cos$ related problem, usually you can use the same method for the $\sin$ part, with some similar trig identities.

This chapter is about complex numbers.  So the question should be solvable with complex number techniques.  The question 2.15 is a similar problem, and you can try to follow the solution to that problem and use a similar method.