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Thread: [RESOLVED] VB.NET - Attempting to write a custom sine function

  1. #1

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    Resolved [RESOLVED] VB.NET - Attempting to write a custom sine function

    Hi,

    Curious to learn a bit more about trigonometry and trying to get a better understanding of the underlying functions (sine, cosine, tangent, etc.) I tried to write a custom sine function in VB.NET:

    Code:
    Imports System
    
    Module Module1
       Sub Main()
          Console.WriteLine(Math.Sin(Math.PI / 2))
          Console.WriteLine(CustomSine(Math.PI / 2))
       End Sub
    
       Function CustomSine(Angle As Double) As Double
          Return Angle - (Angle ^ 3.0 / 6.0) + (Angle ^ 5.0 / 120.0)
       End Function
    End Module
    The "CustomSine" function above is based on information found at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...-code-for-sinx. Specifically the following algebraic formula:

    Code:
    x - (x^3/3!) + (x^5/5!)
    As I understand it "3!" and "5!" simply mean "give me the factorials for 3 and 5". Seeing no reason to write a custom function (did that once already and would only slow the "CustomSine" function down) for the factorials of two numeric constants the precalculated values (6.0 and 120.0 respectively) were used instead.

    As to the question:
    My "CustomSine" produces consistently higher values than the "System.Math.Sin" function. As I understand the output values should never exceed the range of -1 to +1 when using 0 to PI / 2.0 as inputs. Either my code has errors (likely rounding errors) or the approximation given at StackOverflow isn't accurate enough. What formula would produce better results and why?

    Just to be clear, this is just for a hobby and higher math isn't my specialty. Thanks.
    Last edited by Peter Swinkels; Jul 1st, 2018 at 05:24 AM. Reason: Fixed a sentence.

  2. #2
    Fanatic Member 2kaud's Avatar
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    Re: VB.NET - Attempting to write a custom sine function

    PI / 2 is approx 1.570796327 (call it x) and sine(x) should give an answer of 1

    (x ^ 3) / 6 = 0.645964098

    (x ^ 5) / 120 = 0.0796926262

    So sine(x) is 1.570796327 - 0.645964098 + 0.0796926262 = 1.0045248552

    which is correct 2 dp. If you need more accuracy then you can consider further terms in the series.

    The next two terms are -(x ^ 7) / 7! and (x ^ 9) / 9! (and then -(x ^ 11) / 11! and (X^13) / 13! )
    All advice is offered in good faith only. You are ultimately responsible for the effects of your programs and the integrity of the machines they run on. Anything I post, code snippets, advice, etc is licensed as Public Domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

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  3. #3

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    Re: VB.NET - Attempting to write a custom sine function

    Quote Originally Posted by 2kaud View Post
    PI / 2 is approx 1.570796327 (call it x) and sine(x) should give an answer of 1

    (x ^ 3) / 6 = 0.645964098

    (x ^ 5) / 120 = 0.0796926262

    So sine(x) is 1.570796327 - 0.645964098 + 0.0796926262 = 1.0045248552

    which is correct 2 dp. If you need more accuracy then you can consider further terms in the series.

    The next two terms are -(x ^ 7) / 7! and (x ^ 9) / 9! (and then -(x ^ 11) / 11! and (X^13) / 13! )
    Fixed! Thanks.

    Code:
       Function CustomSine(Angle As Double) As Double
          Return Angle - (Angle ^ 3.0 / 6.0) + (Angle ^ 5.0 / 120.0) - (Angle ^ 7.0 / 5040.0) + (Angle ^ 9.0 / 362880) - (Angle ^ 11.0 / 39916800.0) + (Angle ^ 13.0 / 6227020800.0) - (Angle ^ 15.0 / 1307674368000.0) + (Angle ^ 17.0 / 355687428096000.0) - (Angle ^ 19.0 / 121645100408832000)
       End Function
    Any factorials beyond 19 appear to be pointless and result in an overflow anyway.

  4. #4
    Fanatic Member 2kaud's Avatar
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    Re: [RESOLVED] VB.NET - Attempting to write a custom sine function

    Great - but you usually won't implement like that.

    Note that if t is the term number (starting at 1)

    third term (t = 3)
    Angle ^ 5 = <prev value> * Angle * Angle
    5! = <prev value> * 4 * 5
    note that 4 is (t - 1) * 2 and 5 is (t - 1) * 2 + 1

    fourth term (t = 4) where <prev value> is that obtained from the third term
    Angle ^7 = <prev value> * Angle * Angle
    7! = <prev value> * 6 * 7
    note that 6 is (t - 1) * 2 and 7 is (t - 1) * 2 + 1

    etc etc

    and that the signs of the terms alternate between + and -.

    Given this, the calculation can be done in a simple loop to the required number of terms.
    All advice is offered in good faith only. You are ultimately responsible for the effects of your programs and the integrity of the machines they run on. Anything I post, code snippets, advice, etc is licensed as Public Domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

    C++23 Compiler: Microsoft VS2022 (17.6.5)

  5. #5

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    Re: [RESOLVED] VB.NET - Attempting to write a custom sine function

    This code has been removed.
    Last edited by Peter Swinkels; Sep 5th, 2018 at 06:18 AM. Reason: Posted code did not work.

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