MACLAURINS SERIES

Section A: Exponential Function

x 2 x3 + + ... The LHS is exponential but the 2! 3! RHS (power series) is essentially made up of polynomials with infinite number of terms.

The Maclaurins expansion for e x is e x = 1 + x +

The question is: How can an exponential function be approximated by polynomials since they are very different? The LiveMath template shows the graphs of the following approximations to y = e x :
y1 = 1 + x x2 2! x2 x3 y3 = 1 + x + + 2! 3! y2 =1 + x + y10 = 1 + x + x2 x3 x 10 + + ... + 2! 3! 10!

1. State the (approximate) range of x where the graphs of y 2 and y = e x coincide.

2. State the (approximate) range of x where the graphs of y 3 and y = e x coincide.

3. State the (approximate) range of x where the graphs of y 4 and y = e x coincide.

4. As the number of terms of y n increases, i.e. from y 2 to y 4 , what do you notice about the
range of x where the graphs of y n and y = e x coincide?

5. When the numerical value of x becomes smaller, what can you say about the approximation of
y n to y = e x ? [Hint: See Q4]

6. How would you expect the graph of y n to look like as

Section B: Sine Function

n ?

Joseph Yeo

Change the function on the LiveMath template to f ( x ) = sin ( x ) and click anywhere in the template (except on the graphs). Everything that is linked to this function will change automatically.

7. Find, from the template, the Maclaurins expansion for y = sin x up to the term in x 7 and
write it in the space below.

8. Since y 2 = y1 , y 4 = y 3 , etc., then we consider only odd values of n. State the (approximate)
range of x where the graphs of y n (for n = 1, 3, 5, 7) and y = sin ( x ) coincide.

y1 :
y3 : y5 : y7 :

_______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________

9. As the number of terms of y n (for odd n) increases, i.e. from y1 to y 7 , what do you notice
about the range of x where the graphs of y n and y = sin x coincide?

10. Observe the number of turning points. Do you think y 3 or y 5 is a better approximation to
y = sin x ? Why?

11. Is it always true that y n (for odd n) will always have more turning points when n increases?
Why or why not?

12. Do you think y10 or y 20 is a better approximation to y = sin x ? Why?

Section C: Conclusion 13. Write down two main lessons that you have learnt from this worksheet.

Joseph Yeo

ANSWERS Section A: Exponential Function

1. 0.5 x 0.5

[Accept x 0.75] 0.5

2. 1 x 1 [Accept 1.25 x 1.5] 3. 1.5 x 1.5

[Accept x 1.75] 1.5

4. The range increases.

5. The approximation is better when the numerical value of x becomes smaller.

6.
y =ex

Section B: Sine Function 7. sin x = x 1 3 1 5 1 x + x x 7 + ... 6 120 5040 0.75 x 0.75 x 1.5 1.5 x 2 2 [Accept 2.25 x 2.25] x 3 3 [Accept 3.25 x 3.25]

8.

y1 :
y3 : y5 : y7 :

9. The range increases.

10. y 5 is a better approximation to y = sin x than y 3 because y 5 has more turning points than
y 3 since y = sin x has an infinite number of turning points. [ y 3 has 2 turning points; y 5 has 4 turning points.]

11. Not true. y 7 has fewer turning points than y 5 . [ y 7 has only 2 turning points.] 12. y 20 is a better approximation to y = sin x than y10 because y 20 should have more turning
points than y10 . [Or y 20 has more terms than y10 and so it is a better approximation: see Q8 and Q9.] Section C: Conclusion 13. Lesson 1: Lesson 2: The approximation is better when the numerical value of x is smaller. The more terms y n has, the better is the approximation. [In the case of y = sin x , this is because there are generally more turning points as n becomes bigger.]

Joseph Yeo