a) \(2\cos x = - \sqrt 2 \Leftrightarrow \cos x = - \frac{{\sqrt 2 }}{2}\;\; \Leftrightarrow \cos x = \cos \frac{\pi }{4} \Leftrightarrow \;\left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}}{x = \frac{\pi }{4} + k2\pi }\\{x = \pi - \frac{\pi }{4} + k2\pi }\end{array}} \right.\;\;\;\;\;\; \Leftrightarrow \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}}{x = \frac{\pi }{4} + k2\pi }\\{x = \frac{{3\pi }}{4} + k2\pi }\end{array}\;\left( {k \in \mathbb{Z}} \right)} \right.\)
b) \(\cos 3x - \sin 5x = 0\;\;\;\; \Leftrightarrow \cos 3x = \sin 5x\;\;\;\; \Leftrightarrow \cos 3x = \cos \left( {\frac{\pi }{2} - 5x} \right)\;\;\)
\( \Leftrightarrow \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}}{3x = \frac{\pi }{2} - 5x + k2\pi }\\{3x = - \frac{\pi }{2} + 5x + k2\pi }\end{array}} \right.\;\;\;\;\; \Leftrightarrow \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}}{8x = \frac{\pi }{2} + k2\pi }\\{ - 2x = - \frac{\pi }{2} + k2\pi }\end{array}} \right.\;\; \Leftrightarrow \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}}{x = \frac{\pi }{{16}} + \frac{{k\pi }}{4}}\\{x = \frac{\pi }{4} - k\pi }\end{array}} \right.\;\;\left( {k \in \mathbb{Z}} \right)\)