Computing the Period of a Pendulum

POSTER

Abstract

Using Gaussian hypergeometric functions, there is a particularly simple computable approximation for the period of a pendulum as a function of its maximum angular displacement $\theta $. In contrast to other approximations, the associated relative error of this approach is less than 0.0000165 for all $\theta \quad \in $ [$-\pi $/2, $\pi $/2].

Authors

  • Eric Oden

    Southwestern University

  • Kendall Richards

    Southwestern University