Reflection #1 - Unit Q: Verifying Trig Identities

1. To verify a trig identity is to be able to know how to manipulate what is given to you and find a way to create what is given to the answer. To be able to use knowledge of identities to substitute, cancel, or factor/multiply to get to the answer. For example, being able to see that tanx is sinx/cosx, or seeing that sin^2=cos^2-1. 
2. Some tips and tricks is just changing everything I can to sin and cos, by doing that I get a clearer image of what I can substitute with or cancel. Another important tip is to memorize the identities, to be able to look at a problem and be able to know what the identity to use without having to second-guess. I have found that looking at the problem in separate pieces to help a lot because I am not overwhelmed by the information. 
3. My thought process begins with me trying to find what I can substitute to best help me cancel things out or will just overall make the problem easier to look at. If not, then I would then try to see if moving things to one side would make an identity or would help me see what I can do to find the answer. I would try to see if I can divide/multiply by certain things like a fraction or a conjugate denominator to cancel things out or factor. I would also look for a GCF because that could probably lead to an identity. The last resort is to square things and I try to avoid doing that so I don't have to worry about having to remember to check for extraneous answers, but if I have to, then I would try to see if squaring both sides would bring me to the answer.