Given that:

(1 − cot 25°)(1 − cot 20°)

Express cot 25° and cot 20° in terms of sin and cos. Thus,
cos 25° cos 20°
(1 − )(1 − )
sin 25° sin 20°
Expanding this, the expanded expression is
cos 25° cos 20° cos 25° cos 20°
1− − + ∙
sin 25° sin 20° sin 25° sin 20°
The expression above can be transformed to
sin 20° sin 25° − cos 25° sin 20° − cos 20° sin 25° + cos 25° cos 20°
sin 20° sin 25°
In this expression, you notice that if you group certain terms, it can be simplified to sin(𝛼 + 𝛽)
and cos(𝛼 − 𝛽)
Thus,
(sin 25° sin 20° + cos 25° cos 20°) − (sin 25° cos 20° + cos 25° sin 20°)
sin 20° sin 25°
cos(25° − 20°) − sin(25° + 20°)
sin 20° sin 25°
cos 5° − sin 45°
sin 20° sin 25°
√2
cos 5° −
2
sin 20° sin 25°
[cos(𝛼−𝛽)−cos(𝛼+𝛽)]
Note that sin 𝛼 sin 𝛽 = 2

Thus,
√2
cos 5° − 2
[cos(20° − 25°) − cos(20° + 25°)]
2
√2
cos 5° − 2
[cos(−5°) − cos(45°)]
2
√2
cos 5° − 2
1 √2
2 (cos 5° − 2 )
√2 1
cos 5° − can be cancelled, thus 1 =2
2
2

Therefore, (1 − cot 25°)(1 − cot 20°) = 𝟐