Taylor’s theorem

Recall the geometric series gave our first example of finding a power series
representation of a function
1
1 + x + x2 + x3 + · · · = for |x| < 1
1−x
By modifying this series, we found power series expansions for other functons,
for example,
1
1 + x2 + x4 + x6 + · · · = for |x| < 1
1 − x2
In this section, we present a much more general approach to finding power series
expansions.
Let’s begin by assuming we have such an expansion of a function f possessing
derivatives of all orders. Can we find a formula for the coefficients of the power
series in terms of f ? The function does determine the power series, so we expect
the answer should be “yes.” Let’s see how.
Suppose f has this expansion about x = b

f (x) = a0 + a1 (x − b) + a2 (x − b)2 + a3 (x − b)3 + a4 (x − b)4 + · · · (1)

First, notice that evaluating this series at x = b, every term after the first drops
out, leavng
f (b) = a0
We’ll explore this idea more fully in the next section, but for now we note that
differentiating Eq. (1) gives

f ′ (x) = a1 + 2a2 (x − b) + 3a3 (x − b)2 + 4a4 (x − b)3 + · · ·

Evaluating this series at x = b, every term after the first drops out, leavng

f ′ (b) = a1

Differentiating Eq. (1) twice gives

f ′′ (x) = 2a2 + 3 · 2a3 (x − b) + 4 · 3a4 (x − b)2 + · · ·

and then
f ′′ (b) = 2a2

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Continuing in this way, we find

f ′′′ (b) = 3 · 2a3

f ′′′′ (b) = 4 · 3 · 2a4

and so on.
This observation is the first step in understanding Taylor’s theorem. Here
f (n) (b) denotes the nth derivative of f (x), evaluated at x = b.
Taylor’s theorem Suppose f (x) has derivatives of all orders at x = b. The
Taylor series of f (x) expanded about x = b is

X∞
f (n) (b)
f (x) = (x − b)n
n=0
n!

Recalling the Radius of Convergence Theorem, the convergence of the Taylor’s

series to f (x) is described by one of three possibilities.
1. Converges only for x = b.
2. Converges for |x − b| < R and diverges for |x − b| > R.
3. Converges for all x.
Also recall the number R is called the radius of convergence of the series, and
that the endpoints |x − b| = r can be tricky and must be handled individually.
Just because we’ve written a power series, called the Taylor series, with
coefficients determined from the function f doesn’t really prove that the function
defined by the Taylor series equals f on the interval of convergence of the Taylor
series. To investigate this, let’s denote by Tn (x) the nth polynomial containing
the terms through xn in the Taylor series. This is called the nth degree Taylor
polynomial of f . We want to show that for each x in the interval of convergence
of the Taylor series
lim Tn (x) = f (x)
n→∞

To do this, define the Taylor remainder Rn by

Rn (x) = f (x) − Tn (x)

Showing Rn (x) → 0 as n → ∞ usually is done by applying

Taylor’s Inequality If |f n+1 (x)| ≤ M for all |x − b| ≤ C, then

M
|Rn (x)| ≤ |x − b|n+1 (2)
(n + 1)!

for all |x − b| ≤ C.
We illustrate this by finding the Taylor series about x = 0 for f (x) = sin(x)
and establishing that the interval of convergence is (−∞, ∞).

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Example 1 Find the taylor series of f (x) = sin x expanded about x = 0. Show
the interval of convergence is (−∞, ∞).
First, compute the derivatives and look for a pattern.

f ′ (x) = cos(x) f ′ (0) = 1

f ′′ (x) = − sin(x) f ′′ (0) = 0
f ′′′ (x) = − cos(x) f ′′′ (0) = −1
f (4) (x) = sin(x) f (4) (0) = 0
f (5) (x) = cos(x) f (5) (0) = 1

So we see
x3 x5 x7 x9
sin(x) = x − + − + − ···+ (3)
3! 5! 7! 9!
Taking x to be the n = 1 term, the nth term is (−1)n−1 x2n−1 /(2n − 1)!.
Fig. 1 shows the graph of f (x) = sin(x), together with the Taylor polyno-
mials of orders 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. Note that higher-order Taylor polynomials
match f (x) over a larger interval.

Figure 1: Taylor polynomials for sin(x) through order 11.

To find the interval of convergence, observe that for all n, and for all x,

|f n+1 (x)| ≤ 1

So in Taylor’s inequality (2)we can take M = 1 and C = ∞, for each x obtaining

|x|n+1
|Rn (x)| ≤
(n + 1)!

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Now apply the Ratio Test

|x|n+2 /(n + 2)! |x|

lim n+1
= lim
n→∞ |x| /(n + 1)! n→∞ (n + 2)!
= 0 for all x

and we see the radius of convergence is infinite.

In this series for sin(x), the variable x is expressed in radians. For example,
sin(90) gives 0.893997, not 1. Referring to Fig. 1, we see that to get a reasonable
approximatation of sin(90) we must use a lot of terms in the Taylor series. For
example, the 21st -degree Taylor polynomial for sin(90) gives 2.035 × 1021 , and
the 23rd-degree Taylor polynomial gives −3.22 × 1022 . Always use radians and
everything will be fine.
Arguments similar to those of Example 1 give
Example 2 The Taylor series for f (x) = cos(x) expanded about x = 0 is

x2 x4 x6 x8
cos(x) = 1 − + − + − ···
2! 4! 6! 8!
Taking 1 to be the n = 0 term, the nth term (−1)n x2n /(2n)!.
Example 3 The Taylor series for f (x) = ex expanded about x = 0 is

x2 x4 x5 x6
ex = 1 + x + + + + + ···
2! 4! 5! 6!
Taking 1 to be the n = 0 term, the nth term xn /n!.
Example 4 To find the Taylor series of f (x) = (1−x)−1 expanded about x = 0,
first compute some derivatives and look for a pattern.

f ′ (x) = (1 − x)−2
f ′′ (x) = 2(1 − x)−3
f ′′′ (x) = 3 · 2(1 − x)−4
f (4) (x) = 4!(1 − x)−5

In general we have f (n) (x) = n!(1 − x)−(n+1) and so the Taylor series expanded
about x = 0 is
X∞
f (n) (0) n X n!(1)−(n+1) n X n
∞ ∞
x = x = x
n=0
n! n=0
n! n=0

agreeing with the geometric series calculation.

Example 5 We can’t find the Taylor series of f (x) = ln(x) expanded about
x = 0 because neither ln(x) nor any of its derivatives are defined at x = 0.
We can find the Taylor series expanded about any number b > 0. Because

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the interval of convergence has center the point x = b about which the series
is expanded, and because the interval of convergence cannot include the point
x = 0, the Taylor series about x = b cannot represent the function for x > 2b.
The larger the value of b, the larger the interval over which the Taylor series
can converge to the function. For this example, we’ll take b = 1. Differentiating
f and evaluating at x = 1 we find these values

f (x) = ln(x) f (1) = ln(1) = 0

f ′ (x) = 1/x f ′ (1) = 1
f ′′ (x) = −1/x2 f ′′ (1) = −1
f ′′′ (x) = 2/x3 f ′′′ (1) = 2
f (4) (x) = −3!/x4 f (4) (1) = −3!
...
f (n) (x) = (−1)n+1 (n − 1)!/xn f (n) (1) = (−1)n+1 (n − 1)!

Applying Taylor’s theorem with these values of f (n) (1) we find

(x − 1)2 (x − 1)3 (x − 1)4 (x − 1)5

ln(x) = (x − 1) − + − + + ···
2 3 4 5