Introduction

The Riemann Zeta function is a special case of the Dirichlet series discovered by
Bernhard Riemann in the year 1859. The definition of the Riemann Zeta function that
will be used is:

1


=0

where s is a complex number + and Re(s) > 1. I first discovered this series while
watching youtube videos, since then my interest in it has only grown. Along with my
interest in calculus and the Taylor series I decided to combine the two.

The aim of this extended essay is to evaluate the Riemann Zeta function with error of
less than 109 by using the Taylor series. After finding the appropriate Taylor series
approximation, we will proceed use Taylor's inequality to find the error of the function
which we will continuously decrease until we have found a Taylor series representation
that coincide with our aim.
Approximating a Function
Suppose we had the function f(x) = sin(). It would look like the following:

What I want to do is find the quadratic equation that most closely approximates the
sine function. To begin, start with a generic polynomial () = + + 2 + 3 +
4 + 5 There are a few properties that we want the approximation to have the first
being we want (0) = (0), so the first thing to do is evaluate (0), (0) = 0. If we
substitute 0 into our function () we get (0) = + 0 + 02 + and (0) = and
the only value we could have for a is 0.

Considering only the terms we have so far this our equation is now (0) = 0.

The second property of the function () has to have is the same tangent as the () at
(0). To do this we will take the first derivative and then evaluate at it 0. () =
cos() and (0) = 1. No we compute the derivative our function () = + 2 and
evaluating at 0 yields (0) = b . For (0) = (0) to be true b has to be 1.
The third property () should have is the same concavity as () at = 0. To do this
the second derivative will be taken and then evaluated at 0. (0) = 0. Uninterestingly
this results in our coefficient of 2 is also 0.

Continuing with third derivative of () () and evaluating them at 0 (0) =

1 1
1 and (0) = +6 for (0) = 1 d has to be . () = 3
6 6

Continuing on we skip taking any even-order derivative as they will result in the
coefficient of being 0, so e and g coefficients will be 0. The next term would then be the
fifth derivative of () which will evaluate to 1. The expression for the fifth derivative
1
will be 5 () = 120 and 120 = 1 hence our coefficient is .
120

Taking all information about the coefficient gathered our polynomial is now () =
1 3 1
+ 5 . Which yields the graph:
6 120

We can go beyond our initial quantic polynomial and what you will notice is that each
time you add a term our approximation gets more and more accurate. Then the next
step is to add infinitely many terms.
 1 1 1 1
Carrying on the pattern we get () = 3 + 5 7 + 9
6 120 5,040 362,880

This is called the Taylor series

Taylors Series derivation
Note: Introduce the power series
() = 0 + 1 ( ) + 2 ( )2 + 3 ( )3 + 4 ( )4 + 5 ( )5 +
() = 0
Taking the first derivative and plug in a
() = 1
Take the second derivative and plug in a

() = 22
()
= 2
2

Note: Proof of Taylor series

Taylors Error Bound

Taylors Theorem