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PaulsOnlineNotes:CalculusIITaylorSeries

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CalculusII(Notes)/Series&Sequences/TaylorSeries[Notes][PracticeProblems][Assignment
Problems]
CalculusIINotes
TaylorSeries
Intheprevioussectionwestartedlookingatwritingdownapowerseriesrepresentationofafunction.
Theproblemwiththeapproachinthatsectionisthateverythingcamedowntoneedingtobeableto
relatethefunctioninsomewayto

andwhiletherearemanyfunctionsouttherethatcanberelatedtothisfunctiontherearemanymorethat
simplycantberelatedtothis.

So,withouttakinganythingawayfromtheprocesswelookedatintheprevioussection,whatweneedto
doiscomeupwithamoregeneralmethodforwritingapowerseriesrepresentationforafunction.

So,forthetimebeing,letsmaketwoassumptions.First,letsassumethatthefunction
doesin
facthaveapowerseriesrepresentationabout
,

Next,wewillneedtoassumethatthefunction,
,hasderivativesofeveryorderandthatwecanin
factfindthemall.

Nowthatweveassumedthatapowerseriesrepresentationexistsweneedtodeterminewhatthe
coefficients,cn,are.Thisiseasierthanitmightatfirstappeartobe.Letsfirstjustevaluateeverything
at
.Thisgives,

So,allthetermsexceptthefirstarezeroandwenowknowwhatc0is.Unfortunately,thereisntany
othervalueofxthatwecanplugintothefunctionthatwillallowustoquicklyfindanyoftheother
coefficients.However,ifwetakethederivativeofthefunction(anditspowerseries)thenplugin
weget,

andwenowknowc1.

Letscontinuewiththisideaandfindthesecondderivative.

So,itlookslike,
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Usingthethirdderivativegives,

Usingthefourthderivativegives,

Hopefullybythistimeyouveseenthepatternhere.Itlookslike,ingeneral,wevegotthefollowing
formulaforthecoefficients.

Thisevenworksforn=0ifyourecallthat
anddefine

So,providedapowerseriesrepresentationforthefunction
about

.
about

existstheTaylorSeriesfor

is,

TaylorSeries

Ifweuse
,sowearetalkingabouttheTaylorSeriesabout
Seriesfor
or,

MaclaurinSeries

,wecalltheseriesaMaclaurin

BeforeworkinganyexamplesofTaylorSerieswefirstneedtoaddresstheassumptionthataTaylor
Serieswillinfactexistforagivenfunction.Letsstartoutwithsomenotationanddefinitionsthatwell
need.

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TodetermineaconditionthatmustbetrueinorderforaTaylorseriestoexistforafunctionletsfirst
definethenthdegreeTaylorpolynomialof
as,

Notethatthisreallyisapolynomialofdegreeatmostn.Ifweweretowriteoutthesumwithoutthe
summationnotationthiswouldclearlybeannthdegreepolynomial.Wellseeaniceapplicationof
Taylorpolynomialsinthenextsection.

NoticeaswellthatforthefullTaylorSeries,

thenthdegreeTaylorpolynomialisjustthepartialsumfortheseries.

Next,theremainderisdefinedtobe,

So,theremainderisreallyjusttheerrorbetweenthefunction
foragivenn.

Withthisdefinitionnotethatwecanthenwritethefunctionas,

andthenthdegreeTaylorpolynomial

WenowhavethefollowingTheorem.

Theorem
Supposethat
.Thenif,

for

then,

on

Ingeneralshowingthat

isasomewhatdifficultprocessandsowewillbeassumingthat

thiscanbedoneforsomeRinalloftheexamplesthatwellbelookingat.

Nowletslookatsomeexamples.

Example1FindtheTaylorSeriesfor
about
.

Solution
ThisisactuallyoneoftheeasierTaylorSeriesthatwellbeaskedtocompute.TofindtheTaylor
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Seriesforafunctionwewillneedtodetermineageneralformulafor
functionswherethisiseasytodorightfromthestart.

Togetaformulafor
allweneedtodoisrecognizethat,

andso,

Therefore,theTaylorseriesfor

.Thisisoneofthefew

aboutx=0is,

Example2FindtheTaylorSeriesfor
about
.

Solution
Therearetwowaystodothisproblem.Botharefairlysimple,howeveroneofthemrequires
significantlylesswork.Wellworkbothsolutionssincethelongeronehassomeniceideasthatwell
seeinotherexamples.

Solution1
Aswiththefirstexamplewellneedtogetaformulafor
.However,unlikethefirstoneweve
gotalittlemoreworktodo.Letsfirsttakesomederivativesandevaluatethematx=0.

Afteracoupleofcomputationswewereabletogetgeneralformulasforboth
oftenwontbeabletogetageneralformulafor

and

.We

sodontgettooexcitedaboutgettingthat

formula.Also,aswewillseeitwontalwaysbeeasytogetageneralformulafor
.

So,inthiscasewevegotgeneralformulassoallweneedtodoisplugtheseintotheTaylorSeries
formulaandbedonewiththeproblem.

Solution2
Theprevioussolutionwasnttoobadandweoftenhavetodothingsinthatmanner.However,inthis
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casethereisamuchshortersolutionmethod.Intheprevioussectionweusedseriesthatwevealready
foundtohelpusfindanewseries.Letsdothesamethingwiththisone.WealreadyknowaTaylor
Seriesfor about
andinthiscasetheonlydifferenceiswevegotaxintheexponentinstead
ofjustanx.

So,allweneedtodoisreplacethexintheTaylorSeriesthatwefoundinthefirstexamplewithx.

Thisisamuchshortermethodofarrivingatthesameanswersodontforgetaboutusingpreviously
computedserieswherepossible(andallowedofcourse).

Example3FindtheTaylorSeriesfor
about
.

Solution
ForthisexamplewewilltakeadvantageofthefactthatwealreadyhaveaTaylorSeriesfor about
.Inthisexample,unlikethepreviousexample,doingthisdirectlywouldbesignificantlylonger
andmoredifficult.

TothispointweveonlylookedatTaylorSeriesabout
(alsoknownasMaclaurinSeries)solets
takealookataTaylorSeriesthatisntabout
.Also,wellpickontheexponentialfunctionone
moretimesinceitmakessomeoftheworkeasier.ThiswillbethefinalTaylorSeriesforexponentialsin
thissection.

Example4FindtheTaylorSeriesfor
about
.

Solution
Findingageneralformulafor
isfairlysimple.

TheTaylorSeriesisthen,

Okay,wenowneedtoworksomeexamplesthatdontinvolvetheexponentialfunctionsincethesewill
tendtorequirealittlemorework.
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Example5FindtheTaylorSeriesfor
about
.

Solution
Firstwellneedtotakesomederivativesofthefunctionandevaluatethematx=0.

Inthisexample,unlikethepreviousones,thereisnotaneasyformulaforeitherthegeneralderivative
ortheevaluationofthederivative.However,thereisaclearpatterntotheevaluations.So,letsplug
whatwevegotintotheTaylorseriesandseewhatweget,

So,weonlypickuptermswithevenpowersonthexs.Thisdoesntreallyhelpustogetageneral
formulafortheTaylorSeries.However,letsdropthezeroesandrenumberthetermsasfollowsto
seewhatwecanget.

ByrenumberingthetermsaswedidwecanactuallycomeupwithageneralformulafortheTaylor
Seriesandhereitis,

Thisideaofrenumberingtheseriestermsaswedidinthepreviousexampleisntusedallthatoften,but
occasionallyisveryuseful.Thereisonemoreserieswhereweneedtodoitsoletstakealookatthatso
wecangetonemoreexampledownofrenumberingseriesterms.

Example6FindtheTaylorSeriesfor
about
.
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Solution
Aswiththelastexamplewellstartoffinthesamemanner.

So,wegetasimilarpatternforthisone.LetsplugthenumbersintotheTaylorSeries.

Inthiscaseweonlygettermsthathaveanoddexponentonxandaswiththelastproblemoncewe
ignorethezerotermsthereisaclearpatternandformula.Sorenumberingthetermsaswedidinthe
previousexamplewegetthefollowingTaylorSeries.

Wereallyneedtoworkanotherexampleortwoinwhichf(x)isntabout

Example7FindtheTaylorSeriesfor
about
.

Solution
Herearethefirstfewderivativesandtheevaluations.

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Notethatwhilewegotageneralformulahereitdoesntworkfor
.Thiswillhappenonoccasion
sodontworryaboutitwhenitdoes.

InordertoplugthisintotheTaylorSeriesformulawellneedtostripoutthe
termfirst.

Noticethatwesimplifiedthefactorialsinthiscase.Youshouldalwayssimplifythemifthereare
morethanoneanditspossibletosimplifythem.

Also,donotgetexcitedaboutthetermsittinginfrontoftheseries.Sometimesweneedtodothat
whenwecantgetageneralformulathatwillholdforallvaluesofn.

Example8FindtheTaylorSeriesfor

about

Solution
Again,herearethederivativesandevaluations.

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Noticethatallthenegativesignswillcanceloutintheevaluation.Also,thisformulawillworkforall
n,unlikethepreviousexample.

HereistheTaylorSeriesforthisfunction.

Now,letsworkoneoftheeasierexamplesinthissection.Theproblemformoststudentsisthatitmay
notappeartobethateasy(ormaybeitwillappeartobetooeasy)atfirstglance.

Example9FindtheTaylorSeriesfor
about
.
Solution
Herearethederivativesforthisproblem.

ThisTaylorserieswillterminateafter
.ThiswillalwayshappenwhenwearefindingtheTaylor
Seriesofapolynomial.HereistheTaylorSeriesforthisone.

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WhenfindingtheTaylorSeriesofapolynomialwedontdoanysimplificationoftherighthandside.
Weleaveitlikeitis.Infact,ifweweretomultiplyeverythingoutwejustgetbacktotheoriginal
polynomial!

WhileitsnotapparentthatwritingtheTaylorSeriesforapolynomialisusefultherearetimeswhere
thisneedstobedone.Theproblemisthattheyarebeyondthescopeofthiscourseandsoarent
coveredhere.Forexample,thereisoneapplicationtoseriesinthefieldofDifferentialEquations
wherethisneedstobedoneonoccasion.

So,weveseenquiteafewexamplesofTaylorSeriestothispointandinallofthemwewereabletofind
generalformulasfortheseries.Thiswontalwaysbethecase.Toseeanexampleofonethatdoesnt
haveageneralformulacheckoutthelastexampleinthenextsection.

BeforeleavingthissectiontherearethreeimportantTaylorSeriesthatwevederivedinthissectionthat
weshouldsummarizeupinoneplace.InmyclassIwillassumethatyouknowtheseformulasfromthis
pointon.

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