<s>[INST] Find Maxima and Minima of $f( \theta) = a \sin^2 \theta + b \sin \theta \cos \theta + c \cos^2 \theta$ Show that, whatever the value of $\theta$, the expression
$$a \sin^2 \theta + b \sin \theta \cos \theta + c \cos^2 \theta\ $$
Lies between
$$\dfrac{a+c}{2} \pm \dfrac 12\sqrt{ b^2 + (a-c)^2} $$

My try:
The given expression can be reduced as sum of sine functions as:
$$(a-c) \sin^2 \theta + \dfrac b2 \sin 2 \theta + c \tag{*} $$
Now, there is one way to take everything as a function of $\theta$ and get the expression in the form of $ a \sin \theta + b \cos \theta = c$ and dividing it by $ \sqrt{ a^2 + c^2} $ both sides, but square in sine function is a big problem, also both have different arguments.
Other way, I can think of is taking $ \tan \dfrac \theta 2 = t$ and getting sine and cosine function as $ \sin \theta = \dfrac{ 2t}{1+t^2} $ while cosine function as $ \dfrac{ 1-t^2} {1+t^2}$ solving. So getting $(*)$ as a function of $t$, and simplifying we get,
$$ f(t) = \dfrac{2 Rt + 2 R t^3 + R_0 t - R_0 t^3}{1+t^4 + 2t^2} + c\tag{1}$$
For $R_0 = 2b, R = (a-c)$ , but this is where the problem kicks in!, The Range of given fraction seems $ (-\infty,+ \infty)$ and is not bounded!
So what's the problem here? Can it be solved?
Thanks :)

Edit : I'd like to thank  @kaviramamurthy for pointing out that as $t \rightarrow \pm \infty, f(t) \rightarrow c$. That's a mistake here.
 [/INST] We can use a trick to express the function as something easier to deal with. We claim that we can write the function as $(d \cos \theta + e \sin \theta)^2 + f$ or $-(d \cos \theta - e \sin \theta)^2 + f$ for some constants $d, e, f$. From here, converting $d \cos \theta + e \sin \theta$ into a single trigonometric function is simple, and we can find the bounds exactly.
Note that for our expression to work, we must have $de = \frac{b}{2}$. So we expand $(d \cos \theta + \frac{b}{2d} \sin \theta)^2$ to get $d^2 \cos^2 \theta + b \sin \theta \cos \theta + \frac{b^2}{4d^2} \sin^2 \theta$. If we can find a $d$ satisfying $d^2 - \frac{b}{4d^2} = a^2 - c^2$, then the expression will be exactly $a \sin^2 \theta + b \sin \theta \cos \theta + c \cos^2 \theta - f(\sin^2 \theta + \cos^2 \theta)$ for some $f$. But solving for $d$ is now a quadratic in $d^2$. A similar approach can be taken with $-(d \cos \theta - e \sin \theta)^2$; one of the two will always work, and yield the exact bounds required.
</s>