SIMPLE:how do you solve (sin x)/x = 0.99

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The equation (sin x)/x = 0.99 has a numerical solution of approximately 0.2459674 when solved using methods such as Newton's Method and fixed-point iteration. The discussion highlights that there is no closed-form solution, and the approximation involves using the Taylor series expansion for sine. The quadratic equation derived from the approximation is a^2 - 20a + 1.2 = 0, where a = x^2, leading to the valid solution of 0.2459674 and an extraneous solution of 4.465366.

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the answer is 0.24 (working in radians)

how to you get this

thanks!
 
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There is no closed form solution. You might research something like a Newton's Method root finder. I did a quick fixed point interation and arrived at 0.24532 but it took over a 100 iterations to reach it.

I started with a guess of .5 and iterated

x = \frac { \sin x } {.99}
 
I did an approximation by hand,

Take the first terms of taylor series for sine

sin(x) = x - \frac { x^3 } {6} + \frac {x^5} {120}

\frac { \sin x } {x} = 1 - \frac { x^2 } {6} + \frac {x^4} {120} = 0.99

x^4 - 20x^2 + 1.2 = 0

Substitute, a = x^2

a^2 - 20a + 1.2 = 0It's an easy quadratic equation, also got 0.2459674, and other solution 4.465366 which doesn't work.
 
Last edited:
Thread moved to math homework forum.
 
willyf1 said:
I looked for docs that referring to this problem but couldn't find any of those, do you have a clue?

What about what's solution?
 

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