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ah4p
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thanks
thanks
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Theage said:Where do they come from, you ask? Well, in many cases this is how mathematicians define sine and cosine. Otherwise it takes quite a bit of calculus to come up with these formulas,
thank you very much for that. I noticed when I tried to find the point of intersection of sinx and tanx graphically they were x = 0, pi, 2piTheage said:The most obvious way to explain these approximations is truncating the Taylor series about zero. If you haven't seen these, they're basically infinite series for the trig functions. In the case of sine and cosine, they are
$$\sin\theta = \sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{(-1)^n \theta^{2n+1}}{(2n+1)!}\text{ and }\cos\theta = \sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{(-1)^n \theta^{2n}}{(2n)!}$$
When [itex]\theta\approx 0[/itex], these approximations will get better and better for smaller numbers of terms. Where do they come from, you ask? Well, in many cases this is how mathematicians define sine and cosine. Otherwise it takes quite a bit of calculus to come up with these formulas, but you can check that they indeed work. Now, going back to [itex]\theta\approx 0[/itex], we write out the first term of sine and the second term of cosine (basically, we're taking terms with [itex]\theta^2[/itex] or lower exponents. We end up with, lo and behold
$$\sin\theta\approx\theta\text{ and }\cos\theta\approx 1-\frac{\theta^2}{2}.$$
Indeed, if you use a graphing program to graph this you get some very promising results around [itex]\theta = 0[/itex].
View attachment 76762
View attachment 76763
The first image plots sine in black and [itex]f(x)=x[/itex] in red, the second image plots cosine in black and its approximation in red. Amazingly, the approximations don't look so bad!
Of course, there are always geometric explanations too, but this is the slightly more sophisticated way to view the approximations.
It doesn't, but when x is small, we have ##\cos x\approx1##, and thereforeah4p said:how does this mean sinx = tanx ??
ah thank you very much that makes sense :DFredrik said:It doesn't, but when x is small, we have ##\cos x=1##, and therefore
$$\tan x=\frac{\sin x}{\cos x}\approx \frac{\sin x}{1}=\sin x.$$
thank very much :D but why does that result in sin x = xFredrik said:It doesn't, but when x is small, we have ##\cos x\approx1##, and therefore
$$\tan x=\frac{\sin x}{\cos x}\approx \frac{\sin x}{1}=\sin x.$$
Edit: I typed ##\cos x=1## above, but I meant ##\cos x\approx 1##. I fixed that after the reply below.
It doesn't. I explained why ##\sin x\approx x## for small ##x## in post #8, i.e. the post I wrote just before you asked the question I'm quoting now. It was also explained three times in post #2 (use the link), and twice in post #3. Now it's also explained in post #10.ah4p said:thank very much :D but why does that result in sin x = x
The small angle approximation is a mathematical technique used to approximate the value of a trigonometric function when the angle involved is very small, typically less than 15 degrees. It involves simplifying the trigonometric function by replacing the sine or tangent of the angle with the angle itself.
The small angle approximation is useful because it simplifies complex trigonometric calculations, making them easier to solve. It is often used in physics and engineering to approximate the behavior of systems at small angles, where the error introduced by the approximation is negligible.
The accuracy of the small angle approximation depends on the size of the angle being approximated. It becomes more accurate as the angle approaches zero, but the error increases as the angle gets larger. Generally, the small angle approximation is considered accurate for angles less than 15 degrees.
No, the small angle approximation is only applicable to the sine and tangent functions. It cannot be used for the cosine function, as the cosine of a small angle is always close to 1 and does not need to be approximated.
Yes, there are some limitations to using the small angle approximation. As mentioned before, it is only accurate for angles less than 15 degrees. It also does not take into account higher-order terms in the trigonometric function, so it may not be suitable for highly precise calculations. Additionally, it may not be applicable in situations where the angle is not small enough to be approximated.