The small-angle approximations can be used to approximate the values of the main trigonometric functions, provided that the angle in question is small and is measured in radians:
These approximations have a wide range of uses in branches of physics and engineering, including mechanics, electromagnetism, optics, cartography, astronomy, and computer science. One reason for this is that they can greatly simplify differential equations that do not need to be answered with absolute precision.
There are a number of ways to demonstrate the validity of the small-angle approximations. The most direct method is to truncate the Maclaurin series for each of the trigonometric functions. Depending on the order of the approximation, is approximated as either or as .
Justifications
Graphic
The accuracy of the approximations can be seen below in Figure 1 and Figure 2. As the measure of the angle approaches zero, the difference between the approximation and the original function also approaches 0.
Geometric
The red section on the right, , is the difference between the lengths of the hypotenuse, , and the adjacent side, . As is shown, and are almost the same length, meaning is close to 1 and helps trim the red away.
The opposite leg, , is approximately equal to the length of the blue arc, . Gathering facts from geometry, , from trigonometry, and , and from the picture, and leads to:
Simplifying leaves,
Calculus
Using the squeeze theorem, we can prove that
which is a formal restatement of the approximation for small values of θ.
A more careful application of the squeeze theorem proves that from which we conclude that for small values of θ.
Finally, L'Hôpital's rule tells us that which rearranges to for small values of θ. Alternatively, we can use the double angle formula . By letting , we get that .
Algebraic
The Maclaurin expansion (the Taylor expansion about 0) of the relevant trigonometric function is
where is the angle in radians. In clearer terms,
It is readily seen that the second most significant (third-order) term falls off as the cube of the first term; thus, even for a not-so-small argument such as 0.01, the value of the second most significant term is on the order of , or the first term. One can thus safely approximate:
By extension, since the cosine of a small angle is very nearly 1, and the tangent is given by the sine divided by the cosine,
Error of the approximations
Figure 3 shows the relative errors of the small angle approximations. The angles at which the relative error exceeds 1% are as follows:
at about 0.1408 radians (8.07°) at about 0.1730 radians (9.91°) at about 0.2441 radians (13.99°) at about 0.6620 radians (37.93°)
Angle sum and difference
The angle addition and subtraction theorems reduce to the following when one of the angles is small (β ≈ 0): { | |style="text-align:right;"| cos(α + β) ||≈ cos(α) − β sin(α), |- |style="text-align:right;"| cos(α − β) ||≈ cos(α) + β sin(α), |- |style="text-align:right;"| sin(α + β) ||≈ sin(α) + β cos(α), |- |style="text-align:right;"| sin(α − β) ||≈ sin(α) − β cos(α). |}
Specific uses
Astronomy
In astronomy, the angular size or angle subtended by the image of a distant object is often only a few arcseconds, so it is well suited to the small angle approximation. The linear size () is related to the angular size () and the distance from the observer () by the simple formula:
where is measured in arcseconds.
The number is approximately equal to the number of arcseconds in a circle (), divided by , or, the number of arcseconds in 1 radian.
The exact formula is
and the above approximation follows when is replaced by .
Motion of a pendulum
The second-order cosine approximation is especially useful in calculating the potential energy of a pendulum, which can then be applied with a Lagrangian to find the indirect (energy) equation of motion.
When calculating the period of a simple pendulum, the small-angle approximation for sine is used to allow the resulting differential equation to be solved easily by comparison with the differential equation describing simple harmonic motion.
Optics
In optics, the small-angle approximations form the basis of the paraxial approximation.
Wave Interference
The sine and tangent small-angle approximations are used in relation to the double-slit experiment or a diffraction grating to simplify equations, e.g. 'fringe spacing' = 'wavelength' × 'distance from slits to screen' ÷ 'slit separation'.