I retagged the question as a homework. You should look into ChebyshevT polynomials. It has the property that ChebyshevT[3, Cos[th] ]==Cos[3*th]. So for your problem the answer is
In[236]:= x/2 + ChebyshevT[3, x/2]
Out[236]= -x + x^3/2
Alternatively, you could use TrigExpand:
In[237]:= Cos[th] + Cos[3*th] // TrigExpand
Out[237]= Cos[th] + Cos[th]^3 - 3 Cos[th] Sin[th]^2
In[238]:= % /. Sin[th]^2 -> 1 - Cos[th]^2 // Expand
Out[238]= -2 Cos[th] + 4 Cos[th]^3
In[239]:= % /. Cos[th] -> x/2
Out[239]= -x + x^3/2
EDITCosh[theta] == Cos[I*u]uutheta
theta->ArcCosh[x/2], coupled withTrigExpand. Like so:Cosh[theta] + Cosh[3theta] /.theta->ArcCosh[x/2] // TrigExpand // Together. This gives(x^3-2*x)/2. This, of course, is similar in spirit to Sjoerd's answer below. - Sasha