MTH 253 Calculus III 10.8.

TAYLOR SERIES

10.8 Taylor Series

In this section, we will look at what functions can be represented by a power series and how can we find such
power series representations in general.

What functions have a power series representation?

Recall that we are building the power series representation on one specific example in Section 10.6. But we
want to generalize this idea. Let’s reason this through symbolically - Suppose f is an arbitrary function that
can be represented by a power series. That is,
1
X
f (x) = cn (x a)n = c0 + c1 (x a) + c2 (x a)2 + c3 (x a)3 + c4 (x a)4 + · · · where |x a| < R
n=0

We want to determine all the coefficients cn in terms of f . We know pretty quick what c0 is, as c0 = f (a).
What about c1 ? Let’s take the derivative of f and plug in x = a. That is,

f 0 (x) =

f 0 (a) =

Using this idea, what is c1 ?

Now, let’s find c2 and c3 . Using this idea, how do we find them.

Let’s look at an arbitrary coefficient, cn . What is this cn using the similar idea.

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10.8. TAYLOR SERIES MTH 253 Calculus III

Taylor Series and Maclaurin Series

Let’s sum it up in a fancy theorem (and definition):

1
X f (n) (a)
Theorem 1. If we can write f (x) = cn (x a)n with |x a| < R, then cn = . Thus,
n!
n=0

1
X f (n) (a)
f (x) = (x a)n
n!
n=0
(10.9)
f 0 (a) f 00 (a) f 000 (a)
= f (a) + (x a) + (x a)2 + (x a)3 + · · ·
1! 2! 3!

We call the series in Eq (10.9) is called the Taylor series for f at a. For the special case a = 0, the Taylor
series becomes
1
X f (n) (0) f 0 (0) f 00 (0) 2 f 000 (0) 3
f (x) = xn = f (0) + x+ x + x + ··· (10.10)
n! 1! 2! 3!
n=0

We call this special case the Maclaurin series for f (It is important enough to earn its own name).

Example 1. Find the Maclaurin series of the function f (x) = ex and its radius of convergence.

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MTH 253 Calculus III 10.8. TAYLOR SERIES

Exercise 1. Let f (x) = sin x.

(a) Find a Maclaurin series for f (x).

(b) Find the radius of convergence of the Maclaurin series you found in part.

(c) Find the 5th degree Taylor polynomial for f (x) at 0.

Exercise 2. Find the Taylor series for f (x) = ex at a = 10.

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10.8. TAYLOR SERIES MTH 253 Calculus III

Let’s track down some famous Maclaurin series we did before:

Table of Known Maclaurin Series

Function Maclaurin Series Radius of

Convergence
1
X
1
xn = 1 + x + x2 + x3 + · · · R=1
1 x
n=0
X1
xn x x2 x3
ex =1+ + + + ··· R=1
n! 1! 2! 3!
n=0
X1
( 1)n x2n+1 x3 x5 x7
sin x =x + + ··· R=1
(2n + 1)! 3! 5! 7!
n=0
X1
( 1)n x2n x2 x4 x6
cos x =1 + + ··· R=1
(2n)! 2! 4! 6!
n=0

One of the benefits of using the Taylor series of some of these functions is to be able to take the indefinite
integral of functions that we couldn’t do back in MTH 252. Let’s try one.
Z
2
Example 2. Recall we couldn’t evaluate the indefinite integral e x dx back in MTH 252. In fact,
the answer to this integral is not an
Z elementary function. Yet, we can take this indefinite integral using the
2
Maclaurin series. So let’s evaluate e x dx as an infinite series.

Hint: Do it smartly! We know the Maclaurin series for ex so we don’t need to reinvent the wheel!

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MTH 253 Calculus III 10.8. TAYLOR SERIES

Taylor Inequality
Recall an assumption we made in the beginning of this section is that the function can be represented by a
power series, and we figured out that this power series representation is the Taylor series for this function.
But how do we determine whether the function does have a power series representation? More generally, the
question to ask here is

Under what circumstances is a function equal to the sum of its Taylor series?
1
X f (n) (a)
Symbolically, when is it true that f (x) = (x a)n ? Let’s take a step back and think about what
n!
n=0
does it mean for a series to converge. It means the sequence of the partial sums converges. So we can define
the partial sums of a Taylor series as follows:

Definition 1. The polynomial

n
X f (i) (a)
Tn (x) = (x a)i
i!
i=0
f 0 (a) f 00 (a) f 000 (a) f (n) (a)
= f (a) + (x a) + (x a)2 + (x a)3 + · · · + (x a)n
1! 2! 3! n!
is called the nth-degree Taylor polynomial for f at a. We can see that a Taylor polynomial of degree
n is a partial sum of the Taylor series.

That is, we can approximate a function using the nth-degree Taylor polynomial. The error in this approxi-
mation is the remaining terms of the Taylor series. That is, Rn = f (x) Tn (x) if we define Rn (x) to be the
remainder of the Taylor polynomial Tn (x).

Task 1. Find the first, second, and third-degree Taylor polynomials for f (x) = ex centered at a = 0. Also,
find the remainders for each of the Taylor polynomials.

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10.8. TAYLOR SERIES MTH 253 Calculus III

If we want the function to equal to its Taylor series, then we want lim Tn = f (x). In other words, lim Rn (x) =
n!1 n!1
0 IF the function equals to its Taylor series. To prove that a function does have a power series representation,
we will need to prove that the remainder Rn goes to 0 as n ! 1. The following theorem will help us determine
the size of this reminder.

Theorem 2. Taylor’s Inequality Let M be a number such that f (n+1) (c)  M for all c between x
and a. Then the remainder Rn (x) of the Taylor polynomial satisfies

M
|Rn (x)|  |x a|n+1
(n + 1)!

We will not formally prove this theorem in this class. What this theorem tells us is that the error (or the
remainder of the Taylor series) cannot exceed the maximum value of the next term of the Taylor polynomial.

Example 3. Find the value of the remainder |Rn | in approximating e0.45 using the Taylor polynomial or
order n = 6 for f (x) = ex centered at 0.

Example 4. Prove that f (x) = ex is equal to its Maclaurin series.

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