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Key concepts

  • Taylor polynomials are used to approximate functions near a value x = a . Maclaurin polynomials are Taylor polynomials at x = 0 .
  • The n th degree Taylor polynomials for a function f are the partial sums of the Taylor series for f .
  • If a function f has a power series representation at x = a , then it is given by its Taylor series at x = a .
  • A Taylor series for f converges to f if and only if lim n R n ( x ) = 0 where R n ( x ) = f ( x ) p n ( x ) .
  • The Taylor series for e x , sin x , and cos x converge to the respective functions for all real x .

Key equations

  • Taylor series for the function f at the point x = a
    n = 0 f ( n ) ( a ) n ! ( x a ) n = f ( a ) + f ( a ) ( x a ) + f ( a ) 2 ! ( x a ) 2 + + f ( n ) ( a ) n ! ( x a ) n +

In the following exercises, find the Taylor polynomials of degree two approximating the given function centered at the given point.

f ( x ) = 1 + x + x 2 at a = 1

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f ( x ) = 1 + x + x 2 at a = −1

f ( −1 ) = 1 ; f ( −1 ) = −1 ; f ( −1 ) = 2 ; f ( x ) = 1 ( x + 1 ) + ( x + 1 ) 2

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f ( x ) = cos ( 2 x ) at a = π

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f ( x ) = sin ( 2 x ) at a = π 2

f ( x ) = 2 cos ( 2 x ) ; f ( x ) = −4 sin ( 2 x ) ; p 2 ( x ) = −2 ( x π 2 )

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f ( x ) = ln x at a = 1

f ( x ) = 1 x ; f ( x ) = 1 x 2 ; p 2 ( x ) = 0 + ( x 1 ) 1 2 ( x 1 ) 2

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f ( x ) = e x at a = 1

p 2 ( x ) = e + e ( x 1 ) + e 2 ( x 1 ) 2

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In the following exercises, verify that the given choice of n in the remainder estimate | R n | M ( n + 1 ) ! ( x a ) n + 1 , where M is the maximum value of | f ( n + 1 ) ( z ) | on the interval between a and the indicated point, yields | R n | 1 1000 . Find the value of the Taylor polynomial p n of f at the indicated point.

[T] ( 28 ) 1 / 3 ; a = 27 , n = 1

d 2 d x 2 x 1 / 3 = 2 9 x 5 / 3 −0.00092 when x 28 so the remainder estimate applies to the linear approximation x 1 / 3 p 1 ( 27 ) = 3 + x 27 27 , which gives ( 28 ) 1 / 3 3 + 1 27 = 3. 037 ¯ , while ( 28 ) 1 / 3 3.03658 .

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[T] sin ( 6 ) ; a = 2 π , n = 5

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[T] e 2 ; a = 0 , n = 9

Using the estimate 2 10 10 ! < 0.000283 we can use the Taylor expansion of order 9 to estimate e x at x = 2 . as e 2 p 9 ( 2 ) = 1 + 2 + 2 2 2 + 2 3 6 + + 2 9 9 ! = 7.3887 whereas e 2 7.3891 .

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[T] cos ( π 5 ) ; a = 0 , n = 4

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[T] ln ( 2 ) ; a = 1 , n = 1000

Since d n d x n ( ln x ) = ( −1 ) n 1 ( n 1 ) ! x n , R 1000 1 1001 . One has p 1000 ( 1 ) = n = 1 1000 ( −1 ) n 1 n 0.6936 whereas ln ( 2 ) 0.6931 .

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Integrate the approximation sin t t t 3 6 + t 5 120 t 7 5040 evaluated at πt to approximate 0 1 sin π t π t d t .

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Integrate the approximation e x 1 + x + x 2 2 + + x 6 720 evaluated at − x 2 to approximate 0 1 e x 2 d x .

0 1 ( 1 x 2 + x 4 2 x 6 6 + x 8 24 x 10 120 + x 12 720 ) d x

= 1 1 3 3 + 1 5 10 1 7 42 + 1 9 9 · 24 1 11 120 · 11 + 1 13 720 · 13 0.74683 whereas 0 1 e x 2 d x 0.74682 .

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In the following exercises, find the smallest value of n such that the remainder estimate | R n | M ( n + 1 ) ! ( x a ) n + 1 , where M is the maximum value of | f ( n + 1 ) ( z ) | on the interval between a and the indicated point, yields | R n | 1 1000 on the indicated interval.

f ( x ) = sin x on [ π , π ] , a = 0

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f ( x ) = cos x on [ π 2 , π 2 ] , a = 0

Since f ( n + 1 ) ( z ) is sin z or cos z , we have M = 1 . Since | x 0 | π 2 , we seek the smallest n such that π n + 1 2 n + 1 ( n + 1 ) ! 0.001 . The smallest such value is n = 7 . The remainder estimate is R 7 0.00092 .

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f ( x ) = e −2 x on [ −1 , 1 ] , a = 0

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f ( x ) = e x on [ −3 , 3 ] , a = 0

Since f ( n + 1 ) ( z ) = ± e z one has M = e 3 . Since | x 0 | 3 , one seeks the smallest n such that 3 n + 1 e 3 ( n + 1 ) ! 0.001 . The smallest such value is n = 14 . The remainder estimate is R 14 0.000220 .

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In the following exercises, the maximum of the right-hand side of the remainder estimate | R 1 | max | f ( z ) | 2 R 2 on [ a R , a + R ] occurs at a or a ± R . Estimate the maximum value of R such that max | f ( z ) | 2 R 2 0.1 on [ a R , a + R ] by plotting this maximum as a function of R .

Practice Key Terms 5

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Source:  OpenStax, Calculus volume 2. OpenStax CNX. Feb 05, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11965/1.2
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