MATH1021

Week 7 Lecture 1

The University of Sydney

2023 Semester 1
Warm up

What is the limit lim x1/x ?

x!1
✓
(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) e 1 (D) 1

so ✗
÷ = e±h× >

him h¥ = & "

I
= 0
✗→ •
✗ → °

"
( [µp,
÷
,

c
'

,
him ✗ =
time
✗→a
this
=e£÷¥=e°=l .

✗ → a

%
Announcements

• No class on Friday, 7 April 2023 (public holiday).

• In Week 7 Lecture 1, we cover all new topics in Week 7.

• In Week 7 Lecture 2, we solve a few more examples.

(Haotian will pre-record this and upload the video and notes to Canvas by the end of
Friday, 7 April 2023.)

• The week of April 10–14, 2023 is the mid-semester break.

• Mid-semester Quiz on 20 April, 2023.

See Ed post: https://edstem.org/au/courses/10830/discussion/1276188
Lecture plan

Last week: " "

"
"

• L’Hôpital’s rule % ±÷
• First Derivative Test, Second Derivative Test
• Global extrema
• Curve sketching

This week:
• Taylor polynomials of f (x) about x = a
• The remainder term
• Applications
Approximating sine and cosine by polynomials

• You may have seen (e.g. in physics or engineering) the approximations

x2
sin x ⇡ x and cos x ⇡ 1 for small x.
2
• For x near 0, sin x and cos x are well approximated by polynomials, e.g.

Y -_ ✗ -

¥
=P}l✗ )
Y= I

✗ = sinx
Y=t¥+¥

✗
¥ É
= cosx
Y= ✗ -
+

=
B- 1×1
Y=x Y= 1- ¥
=P, 1×1
Approximating functions by polynomials

• Let f (x) be a function, di↵erentiable (at x = a) as many times as we like.

• Goal: Approximate f (x) by a polynomial

(⇤) f (x) ⇡ c0 + c1 (x a) + c2 (x a)2 + · · · + cn (x a)n for x near a.

• Remarks:
• We use powers of (x a) so that subsequent terms (x a)n+1 , . . . are very small when
x is near a, i.e. when |x a| is small.
• Polynomials are easy to work with (sketch, di↵erentiate, integrate, etc).

• Questions:
• How to find the coefficients c0 , c1 , . . . , cn in (⇤)?
• How good is the approximation in (⇤)?
Finding coefficients ck , k = 0, 1, 2, . . . , n

(0) c0 = f (a) : Phy ✗ =a in * flat = [ ☐

my> Co =
f- (a)
f- (a) = Co + error

(1) c1 = f 0 (a) ¥ f' 1×1

"
I
: both sides of ☒I C, + 24 ex -

a) +
. - .
thank -

a)
' '
f- (a) C
,
→ G =
f- G)
f 00 (a) " <
(2) c2 = 2 "
a)
1) G H
" heh
1-
f 3.2 ↳ ☒ a) + -

t.cz +
-

(x ) 2-
. .
. - .

f-
f[÷
"

(3) c3 = f 000 (a)

6
ca , a 2C
,
→ ↳ =

f"{÷ =

: "→

f- nth 1) ( n 2) GH
"'
3.2 I C + 4.3.2 C4H a)
a) + +
-
-

Ix , =
-

nth derivative
.
- . .
-
- .

+
f-
f"z÷
"

f (n) (a)
(a) = 13 ! ) C, → ↳ =

(n) cn = n! :
T .

he != I "
G
f
n.in ii. In -21 2.
'

4 ! )G
. -
.

=
- .

→
,× , =
nth order Taylor polynomial at x a

• Convention: f (0) (x) = f (x) and 0! = 1.

• Definition: Let f (x) be di↵erentiable at least n times at x = a.

The nth order Taylor polynomial of f (x) centred at x = a (or “about x = a”, or
“around x = a”) is

f (1) (a) f (2) (a) f (n) (a)

Pn (x) = f (a) + (x a) + (x a)2 + · · · + (x a)n
1! 2! n!
n
X f (k) (a)
= (x a)k ( Sigma
k! notation )
k=0
ex Find the 7th order Taylor polynomial of f (x) = sin x centred at x = 0.

50¥ :
fix , =
sin ✗ f- to ) = O

" " '

f 't ) =
cosx f- cos = I

f-
"

f-
"
lol =
0
(x ) = -

six

"

f-
"
ex ,
= - cos ✗ f- to , = -

I
"'
" f- lo ) o
f-
=

1×1 =
sinx

" "
The pattern repeats for f- *, ¢ f- lol
,

h > 5 .
 "
f'
" "
f- to , = 1
,
10 ) = 0
,
f to, =
-1 .

?
P> ÷✗
'
1- ✗
'
c
, 1×1 = 0 + ✗ -

to

g- ¥+7
✗ +
+
⇐ ✗ + ✗ + ✗ -

i. B- A = ✗ -

¥ +
f -

×¥ .

""

RIK : P, (1) = 0.841468

Sinti ) = 0,841471
[ Fact : From the pattern ,
we see the

knit )¥ order Taylor polynomial of sin ✗

about ✗ = 0 is

the
K 2kt
×_
Pun 1×1 =
[ 1- 1)
]
41<+1 ) !
1<=0
ex Find the formulae for the nth order Taylor polynomials, centred at x = 0, for
(a) ex
(b) sin x homework

(c) cos x
(d) sinh x
(e) cosh x
p
(f) 1 + x
(g) ln(1 + x)

(Check your answers via a web search.)

The remainder term

• Recall the nth order Taylor polynomial of f (x) about x = a is

n
X f (k) (a)
Pn (x) = (x a)k
k!
k=0

• Definition: The nth remainder term is

Rn (x) = f (x) Pn (x)

That is,
f (x) = Pn (x) + Rn (x)
I 9
Taylor remainder term

Poly .
"
the error
"
The remainder term

• A small remainder means a good approximation.

• Theorem (Lagrange form of the remainder): Suppose that f is di↵erentiable as

many times as we like at x = a. Then

f (n+1) (c)
Rn (x) = (x a)n+1
(n + 1)!

for some c strictly between a and x.

h m m

• Thus,
n
X f (k) (a) f (n+1) (c)
f (x) = (x a)k + (x a)n+1
k! (n + 1)!
k=0

for some c strictly between a and x.

Remarks about the remainder term

• The number c depends on n and x.

• The theorem guarantees the existence of c between a and x, but it does not give the
exact value of c (it can be hard to find the exact value of c).

• You should remember Lagrange’s formula for the remainder.

• We won’t prove the theorem. See a proof (using the Mean Value Theorem) in §7.6
of the course notes.
ex Use Lagrange’s formula to obtain upper and lower bounds for the approximation

1 1
sin(1) ⇡ 1 + = B- (x )
3! 5!

sot We have

sin (x B- (x ) t Rt 1×1
) =
,

where B- 1×1 =
✗
-

É +
¥7 ,

and by Lagrange ,
Rsk ) =

% ✗
to
=
_÷ ✗
'

for some C between 0 4 ✗ .

 [ R±k :
"

C between 04 ✗
"

either C E (× ,
o
) if ✗ < 0

or C E to,✗ ) if ✗ > 0
.

B- Rs-
'

e . Sin (1) = (1) + (1)

= 1- * +
¥ -

since
for some C C- 10,1 ) .
i.
/ Sinai -

( I -
+ I:) / =/ _si÷|
ftp.sina/-sincIEl
=
0.00/3*8
or
equivalently ,

-
E sinus - ( 1- IT -1¥ )
.
⇐ ¥
%,

Raf 1- +
¥ =
1- = 0,875
,

'

I
'

c ,
sin( 1) = 0.875 0.00138
Lecture summary

After today’s lecture, you should be able to:

• Given f (x), find its nth order Taylor polynomial centred at x = a.
• Find the nth Taylor remainder and estimate the error in approximation.