Study Sheet (11.

10)

Taylor Series, Maclaurin Series, and Taylor Polynomials

Linear Approximation:
If f is differentiable at x = a , then f can be approximated at x = a ,

f (x) ≈ L(x) =

You may also call this the “Local Linearization” of the function f at x = a , the idea being that near
x = a , the function behaves very much like its tangent line at x = a .

On the right hand side of the equation is called the

of Degree one (the first

degree approximation) for f and is frequently symbolized as T1 (x) :

f (x) ≈ T1 (x) =

In the special case a = 0 , the equation above reduces to:

f (x) ≈

Do you think the approximation would be better if you can find the second degree approximation,
the third degree approximation, or the forth degree approximation to f ?

Example 1: Consider the function f (x) = e x

(a) Find a degree one polynomial for f at x = 0 .
T1 (x) = a0 + a1x

Given f (x) = e x , f (0) = , f '(x) = , and f '(0) =

And the Taylor Polynomial is :

T1 (x) = , so e x ≈ for x near 0.

The graph of the function f (x) = e x and its Taylor Approximation T1 (x) = 1+ x for comparison are
shown below.
 (b) Complete the table shown below and find a degree two polynomial for f at x = 0 .
T2 (x) = a0 + a1x + a2 x 2

f (x) = e x f (0) = e 0 = 1 T2 (x) = a0 + a1x + a2 x 2 T2 (0) =

f '(x) = f '(0) = T2 '(x) = T2 '(0) =
f ''(x) = f ''(0) = T2 ''(x) = T2 ''(0) =

T2 (x) =
which can be written as

T2 (x) =

(c) Complete the table shown below and find a degree three polynomial for f at x = 0 .
T3 (x) = a0 + a1x + a2 x 2 + a3 x 3

f (x) = e x f (0) = e 0 = 1 T3 (x) = a0 + a1x + a2 x 2 + a3 x 3 T3 (0) =

f '(x) = f '(0) = T3 '(x) = T3 '(0) =
f ''(x) = f ''(0) = T3 ''(x) = T3 ''(0) =
f '''(x) = f '''(0) = T3 '''(x) = T3 '''(0) =

T3 (x) =

The Polynomial function for f (x) = e x are particularly easy to generate since all derivatives at x = 0
equal 1. So it’s easy to see that the third degree Taylor Polynomial approximation for f (x) = e x is:

T3 (x) =

Higher Degree Approximations

We obtained first and second degree approximations to the function e x at x = 0 by matching the first
and second derivatives of the polynomial with those of e x . If we continue to match higher order
derivatives, we can get polynomials of higher and higher degree that provide a close match to our
parent function near x = 0 . In fact, we shall see that each additional term we add in produces a better
approximation to parent function.

Notice also that T1 and its derivative have the same values at a that f and f ¢ have. In general, it can
be shown that the derivatives of Tn at a agree with those of f up to and including derivatives of order n
Example 2:
(a) Graph the parent function f (x) = e x and the first three Taylor Polynomials for this function.

(b) Find the n th degree Taylor Polynomial Tn (x) approximating function f (x) = e x at x = 0 .

(c) Find the Taylor series for the function f (x) = e x at x = 0.

ex =

∞
=∑
n=0

(d) Find the radius of convergence of he above Taylor series.

(e) Find the expression for the number e as a sum of an infinite series.

e=
 Taylor Series of a function f at 0 (or about 0 or centered at 0)

∞
f (x) = ∑
n=0

The Taylor Series becomes when it is

centered at 0.

Example 3: Consider the function f (x) = sin x .

(a) Find the Maclaurin series for the function f (x) = sin x .

f (x) = sin x f (0) =

f '(x) = f '(0) =

f ''(x) = f ''(0) =

f '''(x) = f '''(0) =

f (4) (x) = f (4) (0) =

sin x =

∞
=∑
n=0

(b) Find the radius of convergence of he above Taylor series.

(c) Graph the first four Taylor polynomials, T4 (x) , for f (x) = sin x .
Example 4: Find the Maclaurin series for the function f (x) = cos x .

Example 5: Find the Maclaurin series for the function f (x) = x cos x .

Now Consider the function f (x) = ln x .

The function f (x) = ln x doesn’t exist at , so it could never be represented by a polynomial

at . However, we could instead generate a polynomial approximation about another point

where f (x) = ln x exists and has derivatives. A convenient point to choose is

Because it’s derivatives are easy to evaluate there.

Example 6: Consider the function f (x) = ln x .

(a) Find a third-degree approximating polynomial for f (x) = ln x . Write your polynomial in the
form:
T3 (x) = a0 + a1 (x − 1) + a2 (x − 1)2 + a3 (x − 1)3

T3 (x) =

(b) Find the Taylor series for the function f (x) = ln x at 1.

Now consider any function f that can be represented by a power series:

f (x) = c0 + c1 (x − a) + c2 (x − a)2 + c3 (x − a)3 + c4 (x − a)4 + ⋅⋅⋅ x−a < R

Let us try to determine what the coefficients must be in terms of f .

f (a) =

f '(x) = f '(a) =

f ''(x) = f ''(a) =

f '''(x) = f '''(a) =

f (4) (x) = f (4) (a) =

cn =

Theorem:
If f has a power series representation (expansion) at a, that is, if
n
f (x) = ∑
i=0

then its coefficients are given by the formula

cn =

Substituting this formula for cn back into the series, we see that if f has a power series expansion at
a , then it must be of the following form.
 Taylor Series of a function f at a (or about a or centered at a)
n
f (x) = ∑
i=0

Example 7: Find the Taylor series for the function f (x) = e x at a = 2 .

π
Example 8: Find the Taylor series for the function f (x) = sin x at a = .
3
Example 9: Find the Maclaurin series for the function f (x) = (1+ x)k , where k is any real number.

f (0) =

f '(x) = f '(0) =

f ''(x) = f ''(0) =

f '''(x) = f '''(0) =

f (n) (x) = f (n) (0) =

(1+ x)k =

This series is called .

Binomial Series:
If k is any real number and x < 1 , then

(1+ x)k =

or a given power series , there are 3 possibilities:

(1) The series converges only when .

(2) The series converges for .

 1
Example 10: Find the Maclaurin series for the function f (x) = .
4− x

− x2
Example 11: Evaluate ∫e dx as an infinite series.

Example 12: Evaluate the following limit as an infinite series:

e x − 1− x
lim
x→0 x2
Example 13: Find the first three nonzero terms in the Maclaurin series for each function.

(a) f (x) = e x sin x .

(b) f (x) = tan x .