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Taylor Series Expansions and Approximations
Taylor Series Expansions and Approximations
51
The Taylor series is mainly used for approximating functions when one
can identify a small parameter. Expansion techniques are useful for many
applications in physics, sometimes in unexpected ways, as the following
example will show. The integral
x3 dx
I () =
ex-1
o
comes up in the Debye theory of the heat capacity of solids (in Statistical
Physics.) The integral cannot be found in tables unless . Suppose one is
interested in the small case. Then x never gets large and we can expand the
integral and integrate term by term. Table 1 following gives all the formulas
we'll need. For small x
x2
x3
ex = 1 + x + 2! + 3! + ...
ex 1 = x +
so
x2
2
x3
+ 6 + ...
x3
x2
=
1
1
ex1
1 + ( 2 x + 6 x 2 + ... )
= x2 (1 + y )n
where
n(n1)
2
y2 + ...
52
Taylor Series
(1 + y)1 = 1 y + y2 + ...
Thus
(1 + ( 12
1
x + 6 x3 )) 1 = 1 ( 2 x + 6 x2 ) + ( 2 x + 6 x2 )2 + ...
1
= 1 2 x 6 x2 + ( 4 x2 + 6 x3 + 36 x4 ) + ...
1
= 1 2 x + 12 x2 + ...
Note that it would be inconsistent to keep the terms of order x3 and x4 because
their coefficients would be altered by the contributions from y3 and y4 .
Finally we're ready to integrate
I () =
o
x2 (1 2 x + 12 x2 + ...) dx
=
o
2 x3 + 12 x4 + ... ) dx
(x2
= 3 3 8 4 + 60 5 + ...
This expression is likely to be very accurate for <<1. In the theory of solids
is proportional to the temperature, so the above result implies that for low
temperatures, the energy of a solid is proportional to the cube of T.
Taylor Series
53
x
x x
sin x = x +
+...
3! 5! 7!
x
x x
cos x = 1 +
+...
2! 4! 6!
tan x = x +
x3 2x 5 17x7
+
+
+K for x 2 < 1
3
15
315
1
1
1
- +
+...
3
5
2 x
3x 5x
2
for x > 1
x
x
e =1+ x+
+
+...
2! 3!
x
(x ln a)
(x ln a)
a = 1 + x ln a +
+
+...
2!
3!
x
x
x
sinh x = x +
+
+...
3! 5!
x
x
cosh x = 1 +
+
+...
2! 4!
2
x
x x
ln (1 x) = x
...
2
3 4
1
sin x = x +
2
-1
-1
tan x = x -
x
1 3
+
2 4
3
x
1 3 5
+
2 4 6
5
1
1
1
2
+
+ . . . for x < 1
5
7
3x
5x 7x
x
+...
7
54
Taylor Series
x-1
1 x-1
1 x-1
ln x = 2
+
+
+...
x+ 1
3 x+ 1
5 x+ 1
2
for x > 0
2 4
x +...
3
sec x = 1 + x +
2
x x x
ln (cos x) = -...
2 12 45
ln (1 + sin x) = x x
ln (1 + e ) = ln 2 +
n
(a + b) = a +
1 2 1 3 1 4
x + x x +...
2
6
12
1
1 2 1 4
x+ x x +...
2
8
192
n n-1
n(n - 1) n - 2 2
a
b+
a
b + ...
1!
2!
n(n - 1) 2
x + ...
2!
_______________________________________________
(1 + x)
= 1 + nx +
These approximations derive from expressing the function (call it f(x) for
originality) in the form of the following power series, the Maclaurin series:
(1)
1 j (j)
j! x f |x=0 ,
j=0
where f(j) denotes the jth derivative of f(x), evaluated in this case at x=0. The
series expansion for f(x) = cos x, for example, would be expressed as:
1
0
1 d
1
1
cos x =
(cos 0) x +
(cos 0) x +
0!
1! dx
2!
= (1)(1)(1) + 1(-sin 0) x +
=1+ 0-
1
2
(-cos 0) x + . . .
2
1 2
1 2
x + ... =1x +...
2
2
dx
(cos 0) x
+ ...
(2)
Taylor Series
55
The Taylor series, which is the more general case of the Maclaurin series,
involves expanding about a point a, instead of about zero as in the
Maclaurin series. The form of the Taylor series is simply:
f(x) =
1
j (j)
j! (x - a) f |x=a ,
(3)
j=0
1
0
1
1
1
2
(sin 3)(x - 3) +
(cos 3)(x - 3) +
(sin 3)(x - 3) + . . .
0!
1!
2!
(4)
1
2
(sin 3)(x - 3) + . . .
2
Pn(x) =
1
j (j)
j! (x - a) f |x=a
(5)
j=0
= f(a) + f '(a)(x - a) +
1
2
1 (n)
n
f ''(a) (x - a) + . . . +
f (a)(x - a) .
2
n!
(6)
The difference between the infinite Taylor series and the Taylor polynomial
with n terms is the remainder
R n(x) = f(x) - P n(x)
(7)
56
Taylor Series
Ratio Test:
Given the series
f(x) =
bi x i ,
(8)
i=1
lim
=
j
bn + 1 x
bn x
n+1
(9)
x x
n x
ln (1 + x) = x +
- ... + (- 1)
+ ...
2 3
n
(10)
lim b n + 1 x
n
n
bn x
Thus, < 1 if x < 1
nx
n
lim
lim
=
x = x .
n n + 1
n n + 1
(11)
Taylor Series
57
Second Example:
Expand f(x) = x about x = 1, using Taylors series (expansion is valid for
the interval 0 < x < 2 only).
1
1
3
f(x) = x , f(1) = 1, f (1) = 2 , f (1) = - 4 , and f (1) = 8 .
1
1 1
1 3
P3 (x) = 1 + 2 (x - 1) - 2! 4 (x - 1) 2 + 3! 8 (x - 1) 3
1
1
1
= 1 + 2 (x - 1) - 8 (x - 1) 2 + 16 (x - 1) 3 .
Third Example:
Evaluate approximately by series expansion around x = 0
/2
sin x
dx .
x
/2
sin x
dx =
x
1
x
x
x+
- ... dx
x
3! 5!
0
/2
x
x
1+
- ... dx
3! 5!
=
0
/2
= x-
x
x
+
- ...
18
600
2
=
1+
- ... = 1.371 .
2
72 9600
(12)