The simplest form of $\tan ^{-1} \frac{\sqrt{1+x^2}-1}{x}, x \neq 0$ is:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
$y=\tan ^{-1} \frac{\sqrt{1+x^2}-1}{x}$
let $x = \tan \theta$ (substituting in y) $\Rightarrow \quad \theta=\tan ^{-1}(x)$ .......(1)
so $y=\tan ^{-1}\left(\frac{\sqrt{1+\tan ^2 \theta}-1}{\tan \theta}\right)$
$y=\tan ^{-1}\left(\frac{\sqrt{\sec ^2 \theta}-1}{\tan \theta}\right)$
since $1+\tan ^2 \theta=\sec ^2 \theta$
$y=\tan ^{-1}\left(\frac{\sec \theta-1}{\tan \theta}\right)$
as $\sec \theta = \frac{1}{\cos \theta}$
$\tan \theta = \frac{\sin \theta}{\cos \theta}$
$y=\tan ^{-1}\left(\frac{\frac{1}{\cos \theta}-1}{\frac{\sin \theta}{\cos \theta}}\right)$
$\Rightarrow y=\tan^{-1}\left(\frac{1-\cos \theta}{\sin \theta}\right)$
multiplying and dividing by cos θ
$y=\tan ^{-1}\left(\frac{2 \sin ^2 \frac{\theta}{2}}{2 \sin \frac{\theta}{2} \cos \frac{\theta}{2}}\right)$
as $\cos \theta=1-2 \sin ^2 \frac{\theta}{2}$
$\Rightarrow 2 \sin ^2 \frac{\theta}{2}=1-\cos \theta$
$\sin \theta= 2 \sin \frac{\theta}{2} \cos \frac{\theta}{2}$
$y=\tan ^{-1}\left(\frac{\sin \frac{\theta}{2}}{\cos \frac{\theta}{2}}\right)$
$y=\tan ^{-1} \tan \frac{\theta}{2}=\frac{\theta}{2}$
from (1)
$y=\frac{1}{2} \tan ^{-1}(x)$