What is the Relationship Between Sine and Inverse Pi as n Increases?

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The discussion explores the relationship between the sine function and its argument as it approaches zero, specifically examining the behavior of sin(pi*10^-n). It is noted that for small values of x, sin(x) approximates x closely, leading to the limit that as x approaches zero, sin(x)/x approaches 1. This relationship is confirmed through geometric proofs. A clarification is made that while sin(0)/0 is often mentioned, it is undefined due to division by zero, emphasizing that the limit applies only when x is near zero but not equal to it. Understanding this limit is crucial for grasping the behavior of sine in calculus.
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I have noticed something strange when you take the value of sin(pi*10^-n). It approaches pi*10^-n. I have attatched the file here.
 

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Hi dimension10! :smile:

Your result can be generalized. Indeed, if x is small then

\sin(x)\sim x

So for small values of x, we will have that x approximates sin(x) quite closely.

The precise result is

\lim_{x\rightarrow 0}{\frac{\sin(x)}{x}}=1

which can be proved by geometric methods. See http://www.khanacademy.org/video/proof--lim--sin-x--x?playlist=Calculus to see how to derive the result.
 
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micromass said:
Hi dimension10! :smile:

Your result can be generalized. Indeed, if x is small then

\sin(x)\sim x

So for small values of x, we will have that x approximates sin(x) quite closely.

The precise result is

\lim_{x\rightarrow 0}{\frac{\sin(x)}{x}}=1

which can be proved by geometric methods. See http://www.khanacademy.org/video/proof--lim--sin-x--x?playlist=Calculus to see how to derive the result.

So that just means that sin(0)/0=1, right?
 
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dimension10 said:
So that just means that sin(0)/0=1, right?

No, not at all, since you cannot divide by 0. What

\lim_{x\rightarrow 0}{\frac{\sin(x)}{x}}=1

mean is, if x is very close to 0 (but not equal to 0!), then \frac{\sin(x)}{x} comes very close to 1.
Thus if x is very close to 0, then sin(x) comes very close to x!

The statement sin(0)/0 makes no sense, since division by 0 is not allowed!
 
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