Oxford Cambridge and RSA

Tuesday 21 June 2022 – Afternoon

A Level Mathematics B (MEI)
H640/03 Pure Mathematics and Comprehension
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Approximating the sine function

Small angles

For a small angle x radians, the approximation sin x . x is valid. The curve y = sin x and the
straight line y = x are shown in Fig. C1.1. Fig. C1.2 shows the curve y = x - sin x . Inspection of
the graphs suggests that x is a reasonable approximation for sin x for - 0.5 G x G 0.5 and also that
y = x has the same gradient as y = sin x when x = 0 . 5

y y

3 3

2 2

1 1

x x
–2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5
–1 –1

–2 –2
Fig. C1.1 Fig. C1.2

Calculating sin x

Trigonometric functions, including sin x, are widely used so it is useful to be able to calculate
the value of the sine of any angle accurately and quickly. This is easily done nowadays using a
calculator but this was not possible in the past. The linear function, y = x , is only a reasonable
approximation for y = sin x for values of x close to zero. Perhaps using a higher degree polynomial 10
would give a reasonable approximation for a wider range of values of x.

Fig. C2.1 shows the curve y = sin x and the quadratic curve which goes through the points (0, 0),
r 4x (r - x)
a , 1k and (r, 0) . The equation of this curve is y = . Fig. C2.2 shows the curve
2 r2
4x (r - x)
y= 2 - sin x .
r
y y

2 2

1 1

x x
–2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5
–1 –1

–2 –2
Fig. C2.1 Fig. C2.2

© OCR 2022 H640/03/I Jun22

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The quadratic function seems to be a reasonably good approximation for sin x in the interval 15
0 G x G r. However, calculating percentage errors for selected values of x shows that the percentage
errors made by using the quadratic function as an approximation to sin x are quite high for values
of x close to zero or r.

The spreadsheet in Fig. C3 shows values of x in column A, with the corresponding values of sin x
4 x ( r - x)
and the quadratic function 2 in columns B and C. Columns D and E show the percentage 20
r
errors in using x and the quadratic as approximations for sin x.

A B C D E
% error for
x sin(x) quadratic % error for x
1 quadratic
2 0 0 0
3 0.1 0.099833 0.123271 0.166861 23.476799
4 0.2 0.198669 0.238437 0.669791 20.016773
5 0.3 0.295520 0.345496 1.515901 16.911206
6 0.4 0.389418 0.444450 2.717298 14.131825
7

Fig. C3

A better approximation
16x (r - x)
The approximation sin x . was discovered by an Indian mathematician named
5 r 2 - 4 x ( r - x)
Bhaskara in the 7th century. It is not known how Bhaskara derived the formula but it can be seen that
16x (r - x) r
the curve y = 2 is symmetrical about x = and goes through the points (0, 0), 25
5r - 4x (r - x) 2
r 16x (r - x)
a , 1k and (r, 0). Fig. C4 shows the curves y = sin x and y = . Radians were not in
2 5r 2 - 4x (r - x)
use until the 18th century; Bhaskara gave the formula for an angle i degrees as
4i (180 - i)
sin i . .
40500 - i (180 - i)
y

x
–2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5
–1

–2

Fig. C4
16x (r - x)
The percentage error in approximating sin x by is less than 2% throughout the
5 r 2 - 4 x ( r - x)
interval 0 G x G r. The Bhaskara approximation for sin x can be used to derive the following 30
r 2 - 4x 2
approximation for cos x; cos x . 2 .
r + x2
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