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Small Angle Approximations for sin, cos and tan

StudyWell > Trigonometry (study of triangles) in A-Level Maths > Small Angle Approximations for sin, cos and tan

What are Small Angle Approximations?

The small angle approximations, as given in the Edexcel Formula Booklet, are:

$\sin(\theta)\approx\theta$

$\cos(\theta)\approx 1-\frac{\theta^2}{2}$

$\tan(\theta)\approx\theta$

These approximations can only be used when $\theta$ is small. Hence why we call them ‘small angle’ approximations. Furthermore, $\theta$ must be measured in radians.

small angle approximations

Here we can see each of the trigonometric graphs plotted against their given approximations. We can see from these plots, the values of $\theta$ for which these approximations are good.  Evidently, $\sin(\theta)\approx \theta$ and $\tan(\theta)\approx\theta$ appear to be good approximations for $-\frac{\pi}{4}\leq\theta\leq\frac{\pi}{4}$ whereas $\cos(\theta)\approx 1-\frac{\theta^2}{2}$ works well for $-\frac{\pi}{2}\leq\theta\leq\frac{\pi}{2}$.

What about larger angle values?

Functions can be approximated by polynomials by taking a Taylor Expansion (what is a Taylor Expansion?). These expansions are, of course, dependent on where we are taking the approximation. Recall that for the small angle approximations above, they are only valid for values of $\theta$ around zero. For other ranges, the Taylor approximation will look different. Note that when the Taylor series is taken for values around zero, we call it a Maclaurin series.

It can be shown that the Maclaurin series for $\sin(\theta)$ and $\cos(\theta)$ ($\tan(\theta)$ isn’t as simple) are given by:

$\sin(\theta)\approx\theta-\frac{\theta^3}{3!}+\frac{\theta^5}{5!}-\frac{\theta^7}{7!}+…$

$\cos(\theta)\approx 1-\frac{\theta^2}{2}+\frac{\theta^4}{4!}-\frac{\theta^6}{6!}+…$

Notice that $\sin(\theta)$ has only odd powers of $\theta$ whereas $\cos(\theta)$ has only even powers. As we can see, both expansions have alternating signs and increasing powers of $\theta$. Hence, the more terms included in the expansion, the larger the range of $\theta$ values the expansion will be a good approximation for. This explains why the small angle approximation for $\cos(\theta)$ works for a larger range of $\theta$ values – it is quadratic whereas the approximations for $\sin(\theta)$ and $\tan(\theta)$ are linear.

Examples of Small Angle Approximations

Example 1

Find the percentage error in the small angle approximation for $\sin(\theta)$ when $\theta=0.22$ radians.

Show Solution

Firstly, the small angle approximation says that $\sin(0.22)\approx 0.22$. However, the actual value is $\sin(0.22)=0.21823$ to 5 decimal places. Hence, the error is roughly $|0.21823-0.22|=0.00177$. Finally, dividing by the true value and multiplying by 100 gives the percentage error as approximately 0.805%. 

Example 2

Find the approximate value of $\frac{1-\cos(3\theta)}{\theta\tan(2\theta)}$ for small angles.

Show Solution

Using the small angle approximations:

$\frac{1-\cos(3\theta)}{\theta\tan(2\theta)}\approx \frac{1-\left(1-\frac{(3\theta)^2}{2}\right)}{\theta\times 2\theta}=\frac{\frac{9\theta^2}{2}}{2\theta^2}=\frac{9}{4}$

Hence, for $\frac{1-\cos(3\theta)}{\theta\tan(2\theta)}$ is approximately $\frac{9}{4}$ for $\theta$ close to 0.

Example 3

  1. Show that for values of $\theta$ (in radians) close to zero, $\frac{5\cos(2\theta)-\sin(\theta)-2}{1-\tan(2\theta)}\approx 3+5\theta$.
  2. Hence state the approximate value of $\frac{5\cos(2\theta)-\sin(\theta)-2}{1-\tan(2\theta)}$ for small angles.
Show Solution

  1. Using small angle approximations: $\begin{array}{l}\frac{5\cos(2\theta)-\sin(\theta)-2}{1-\tan(2\theta)}&\approx&\frac{5\left(1-\frac{(2\theta)^2}{2}\right)-\theta-2}{1-2\theta}=\frac{3-10\theta^2-\theta}{1-2\theta}\\&=&\frac{(1-2\theta)(3+5\theta)}{1-2\theta}=3+5\theta\end{array}$ 
  2. It follows from part 1, that for small values of $\theta$, $5\theta$ is also approximately 0 and so $3+5\theta\approx 3$. Hence, $\frac{5\cos(2\theta)-\sin(\theta)-2}{1-\tan(2\theta)}\approx 3$.

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