Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / Paper 1 / 11 / f / Solution

For $\theta \notin 2\pi \mathbb{Z}$, use the finite geometric series with ratio $e^{i\theta }$:The second equality follows by factoring $1-e^{it}=-2i{e}^{it/2}\sin (t/2)$ in numerator and denominator. Taking real parts proves the finite trigonometric sum identityWhen $\theta =2p\pi$, every cosine is $1$, so the sum is $\boxed{N}$. This also gives the continuous limiting value at the excluded arguments.