Skip to main content

Section 9.4 Taylor Series (PS4)

Subsection 9.4.1 Activities

Activity 9.4.1.

The following tasks will help us find a mechanism to produce a power series given information about its derivatives.
(d)
Based on these results, which of the following should always equal the nth derivative of xn with respect to x?
  1. n
  2. n2
  3. n!
  4. nn

Activity 9.4.2.

Letโ€™s use derivatives to rediscover the sequence an which gives a power series representation for ex.
(e)
So this 6a3 term was obtained from the fact that the 3rd derivative of x3 is 3!=6.
So finally, we may skip ahead to the nth derivative:
dndxn[ex]=ex=n!โ‹…an+(n+1)!โ‹…an+1โ‹…x+โ€ฆ.
What must an be to also satisfy e0=1?
(f)
This reveals the power series we previously found for ex:
ex=โˆ‘n=0โˆžanxn=โˆ‘n=0โˆž1n!xn.
So in general, if f(x)=a0+a1x+a2x2+โ€ฆ, then
dndxn[f(x)]=f(n)(x)=n!โ‹…an+(n+1)!โ‹…an+1โ‹…x+โ€ฆ.
What must an be to produce the correct value for f(n)(0)?

Definition 9.4.4.

The Taylor series generated by f(x) and centered at x=c is given by
f(x)=โˆ‘n=0โˆžf(n)(c)n!(xโˆ’c)n=f(c)+fโ€ฒ(c)(xโˆ’c)+fโ€ฒโ€ฒ(c)2!(xโˆ’c)2+f(3)(c)3!(xโˆ’c)3+โ€ฆ
with an interval of convergence determinable by series convergence rules.
When c=0,
f(x)=โˆ‘n=0โˆžf(n)(0)n!xn=f(0)+fโ€ฒ(0)x+fโ€ฒโ€ฒ(0)2!x2+f(3)(0)3!x3+โ€ฆ
is called the Maclaurin series generated by f.

Activity 9.4.5.

Observe that f(x)=sinโก(x) is a function such that:
f(0)fโ€ฒ(0)fโ€ณ(0)f(3)(0)f(4)(0)f(5)(0)f(6)(0)f(7)(0)sinโก(0)cosโก(0)โˆ’sinโก(0)โˆ’cosโก(0)sinโก(0)cosโก(0)โˆ’sinโก(0)โˆ’cosโก(0)010โˆ’1010โˆ’1
(a)
Given the zeros appearing for every even derivative above, which of these is a valid simplification of the Maclarin series โˆ‘n=0โˆžf(n)(0)n!xn for sinโก(x)?
  1. โˆ‘n=1โˆžf(n)(0)n!xn
  2. โˆ‘2n=0โˆžf(n)(0)n!xn
  3. โˆ‘n=0โˆžf(2n)(0)(2n)!x2n
  4. โˆ‘n=0โˆžf(2n+1)(0)(2n+1)!x2n+1
(b)
Now consider the following consolidated chart:
f(1)(0)f(3)(0)f(5)(0)f(7)(0)cosโก(0)โˆ’cosโก(0)cosโก(0)โˆ’cosโก(0)1โˆ’11โˆ’1
Which formula yields these alternating 1s and โˆ’1s appearing for f(2n+1)(0)?
  1. f(2n+1)(0)=(โˆ’1)n
  2. f(2n+1)(0)=(โˆ’1)n+1
  3. f(2n+1)(0)=(โˆ’1)2n
  4. f(2n+1)(0)=(โˆ’1)2n+1

Definition 9.4.7.

For a function f(x) with a Taylor series centered at x=c,
f(x)โ‰ˆTk(x)=โˆ‘n=0kf(n)(c)n!(xโˆ’c)n=f(c)+fโ€ฒ(c)(xโˆ’c)+fโ€ฒโ€ฒ(c)2!(xโˆ’c)2+โ€ฆ+f(k)(c)k!(xโˆ’c)k
where Tk(x) is called the kth degree Taylor polynomial generated by f and centered at x=c.
The kth degree Taylor polynomial can be seen as the โ€œbestโ€ polynomial of degree k or less for approximating f(x) for values close to x=c. Note that the 1st degree Taylor polynomial is also known as the linearization of f.

Activity 9.4.9.

Let f(x) be a function such that:
f(โˆ’2)fโ€ฒ(โˆ’2)fโ€ณ(โˆ’2)fโ€ด(โˆ’2)f(4)(โˆ’2)f(5)(โˆ’2)f(6)(โˆ’2)02โˆ’1654โˆ’128250โˆ’432
(a)
Find a Taylor polynomial for f(x) centered at x=โˆ’2 of degree 3.
(b)
Using the table above, find a general closed form for f(n)(โˆ’2).

Remark 9.4.10.

You might have seen โˆ’1 written as i, and know that z is a complex number if z=a+bi for some real numbers a and b. Note that i2=โˆ’1, i3=(i2)i=โˆ’i, i4=(i2)2=1, i5=(i4)i=i, and so on. This gives rise to the following notion.

Definition 9.4.11. Eulerโ€™s Identity.

For any real number ฮธ,
eiฮธ=1+iฮธ1!+(iฮธ)22!+(iฮธ)33!+(iฮธ)44!+(iฮธ)55!+(iฮธ)66!+(iฮธ)77!+(iฮธ)88!+โ€ฆ=1+iฮธโˆ’ฮธ22!โˆ’iฮธ33!+ฮธ44!+iฮธ55!โˆ’ฮธ66!โˆ’iฮธ77!+ฮธ88!+โ€ฆ=(1โˆ’ฮธ22!+ฮธ44!โˆ’ฮธ66!+โ€ฆ)+i(ฮธโˆ’ฮธ33!+ฮธ55!โˆ’ฮธ77!+โ€ฆ)=cosโก(ฮธ)+isinโก(ฮธ).

Subsection 9.4.2 Videos

Figure 196. Video: Determine a Taylor or Maclaurin series for a function

Subsection 9.4.3 Exercises