Comparison between diffusion equation, Monte Carlo method and SPN approximations in the heterogeneous phantom when g = 0.0 and nb = 1.0. μs and μa of the big cylindrical component of the phantom are fixed to 0.5mm−1 and 0.005mm−1 respectively. To the small cylindrical part, the ratios of (a), (b) and (c) are 50.0, 5.0 and 2.0 respectively. MC/SPi (i = 1, 3, 7) denote the ratios and “SPj to SP7” (j = 1, 3) are the relative errors.