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Em 13

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10 views3 pages

Em 13

Uploaded by

rd317322
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Taylor’s Theorem and Taylor Series

Taylor’s theorem is a powerful tool in calculus that allows us to approximate functions with poly-
nomials. This approximation helps us understand complex functions by breaking them down into
simpler polynomial expressions. Taylor’s theorem also includes a remainder term that tells us
the error in our approximation, which decreases as we add more terms to the polynomial.

1. Taylor’s Theorem

If f (x) is a function that is differentiable up to (n + 1)-th order around some point a, then we can
approximate f (x) near a by a polynomial of degree n based on the function’s derivatives at a.

Taylor Polynomial of Degree n:

f ′′ (a) f (n) (a)


f (x) ≈ f (a) + f ′ (a)(x − a) + (x − a)2 + · · · + (x − a)n .
2! n!
This expression is called the Taylor polynomial of degree n for f (x) around a.

Taylor’s Theorem with Remainder The remainder term Rn (x) tells us how accurate our
approximation is by measuring the error between the actual value of f (x) and the Taylor polyno-
mial:
f ′′ (a) f (n) (a)
f (x) = f (a) + f ′ (a)(x − a) + (x − a)2 + · · · + (x − a)n + Rn (x).
2! n!
One common form for Rn (x) is the Lagrange remainder:

f (n+1) (c)
Rn (x) = (x − a)n+1 ,
(n + 1)!

where c is some point between a and x. This remainder gives us an estimate of the error in our
Taylor approximation.

2. Taylor Series

If we continue to add more terms to the Taylor polynomial (increasing n toward infinity), we get
the Taylor series for f (x) around a. The Taylor series for f (x) around x = a is:

f ′′ (a) f ′′′ (a)


f (x) = f (a) + f ′ (a)(x − a) + (x − a)2 + (x − a)3 + . . .
2! 3!
When the remainder Rn (x) approaches zero as n goes to infinity, the Taylor series converges to
f (x), giving us an exact representation of the function.

3. Example of Taylor’s Theorem with Remainder

Let’s approximate f (x) = ln(x) around a = 1 using a Taylor polynomial of degree 2.

1
Step 1: Calculate Derivatives We need the function f (x) and its derivatives evaluated at
x = 1:

f (x) = ln(x),
1
f ′ (x) = ⇒ f ′ (1) = 1,
x
1
f ′′ (x) = − 2 ⇒ f ′′ (1) = −1,
x
2
f ′′′ (x) = 3 ⇒ f ′′′ (1) = 2.
x

Step 2: Set Up the Taylor Polynomial The Taylor polynomial of degree 2 for f (x) = ln(x)
around x = 1 is:
f ′′ (1)
f (x) ≈ f (1) + f ′ (1)(x − 1) + (x − 1)2 .
2!
Substituting the values we found:

1 (x − 1)2
f (x) ≈ 0 + 1 · (x − 1) − (x − 1)2 = (x − 1) − .
2 2

Step 3: Add the Remainder Term The remainder term R2 (x) is given by:

f (3) (c) 2 (x − 1)3


R2 (x) = (x − 1)3 = (x − 1)3 = ,
3! 6 3
where c is some point between 1 and x.

Final Approximation with Remainder So, our approximation for ln(x) near x = 1 is:

(x − 1)2 (x − 1)3
ln(x) ≈ (x − 1) − + .
2 3
3
The term (x−1)
3 represents the remainder, telling us how much error there is in the approximation
if we stop at the quadratic term.

Exercises
1. Use Taylor’s theorem to find the Taylor polynomial of degree 3 for f (x) = ex centered at
a = 0.5.
π
2. Approximate sin(x) around x = 6 using a Taylor polynomial of degree 2.

3. Find the Taylor series for f (x) = cos(x) centered at a = π/4 up to the fourth degree term.
Calculate the remainder term.

Summary
• Taylor’s Theorem gives us a way to approximate a function using its derivatives at a point
a.
• Taylor Polynomial is the polynomial formed by using a finite number of terms in the series.
• Taylor Series is the infinite sum of these terms, which can exactly represent the function if
it converges.

2
• The Remainder Term helps us measure the error in using a finite number of terms, showing
how accurate the approximation is.

Taylor’s theorem is widely used in fields requiring approximations, such as physics, engineering,
and economics, to simplify complex calculations by using polynomials.

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