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Taylor Series
A Taylor series is an infinite polynomial1 expansions of a mathematical functions about a point. A truncation of that expansion can be used an a polynomial approximation to the original function. A Taylor series is a generalisation of the Maclaurin series2; the Taylor series expansion being applicable at any continuously differentiable point in the functions domain, but the Maclaurin series is only applicable at x=0. The Taylor series for a function differentiable) is defined as follows: at any point a (at which the function is continuously

where the shorthand notation

etc.). Note that the series make use of the factorial(!) function4. In the following example a Taylor series expansion of a function will be derived and it will be shown how this can be used as a means of approximating the function by a polynomial. Example Find the Taylor series expansion of about x=2 , evaluating terms to 3 decimal places, and use the cubic polynomial approximation resulting from the truncation of the Taylor series to approximate . The standard formula for Taylor series is given below

In this case

and

It follows that

Hence The truncated cubic approximation, based on the Taylor series is

and this may be compared to the exact value

to 3 decimal places.

Polynomials Maclaurin Series 3 Differentiation 4 Factorial

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