a) \(\cos x = - \frac{1}{2} \Leftrightarrow \cos x = \cos \left( {\frac{{2\pi }}{3}} \right) \Leftrightarrow \left[ \begin{array}{l}x = \frac{{2\pi }}{3} + k2\pi \\x = - \frac{{2\pi }}{3} + k2\pi \end{array} \right.\)
b) \(\cos x = \cos \left( { - {{87}^ \circ }} \right) \Leftrightarrow \left[ \begin{array}{l}x = - {87^ \circ } + k.360\\x = {87^ \circ } + k{.360^ \circ }\end{array} \right.\)