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A single slit of width \(\Delta x\) with drawn-in electron wave directions that are parallel near the single slit. The waves are approximately parallel when the detector screen is placed far from the slit.
A right triangle can be constructed using the parallel electron waves. The hypotenuse to the angle \(\theta\) is the slit width \(\Delta x \). The opposite cathetus is the path difference. Here, the path difference is the condition for destructive interference \(n\, \lambda\) at the single slit. Here \(n\) takes the values 1, 2, 3 and so on and marks the 1st minima, 2nd minima, 3rd minima and so on.