Radians can be used to find bapproximations/b for the values of (\sin{θ}), (\cos{θ}) and (\tan{θ}).

When (θ) is bsmall/b and measured in bradians/b: ulli(\sin{θ} ≈ θ)/lili(\cos{θ} ≈ 1-\dfrac{θ^2}{2})/lili(\tan{θ} ≈ θ)[/li]/ul The graphs below show that these approximations work:

(y=\sin{θ}) and (\textcolor{red}{y=θ}) mtaimg/images/topics/5/5-50-1.png/mtaimg

(y=\cos{θ}) and (\textcolor{red}{y=1-\dfrac{θ^2}{2}}) mtaimg/images/topics/5/5-50-2.png/mtaimg

(y=\tan{θ}) and (\textcolor{red}{y=θ}) mtaimg/images/topics/5/5-50-3.png/mtaimg

[b]uSmall angle approximations[/u]/b

When (θ) is bsmall/b and measured in bradians/b: ulli(\sin{θ} ≈ θ)/lili(\cos{θ} ≈ 1-\dfrac{θ^2}{2})/lili(\tan{θ} ≈ θ)[/li]/ul