TAYLOR AND MACLAURIN SERIES

Suppose

 an ( x  c)n  f  x  for c  R  x  c  R , where R  0
n 0

f ( k ) (c )
ak  for k  0,1, 2,3,...
k!

 If f ( x) has derivatives of all orders at x  c :


f ( k ) (c ) f '' (c) f ''' (c)
 k!
( x  c)  f (c)  f '(c)( x  c) 
k
2!
( x  c) 
2
3!
( x  c)3  ...
k 0

Taylor series of f about c (Taylor series of f in powers of x  c )

If c=0, the Taylor series is called the Maclaurin series

Theorem: 1 If f has a power series representation at c , that is, if


 ak ( x  c)k  f ( x) xc  R
k 0

then its coefficients are given by

f ( k ) (c )
ak 
k!

Analytic Functions If f has a Taylor series at c which converges to f ( x) in an open interval

containing c, then f is analytic at c .

x
Example: 1 Taylor series for e :

f ( x)  e x , f ( x)  e x , f ( x)  e x ,..., f ( n ) ( x)  e x for every integer n  0

 f ( n ) (c )  ec for every integer n  0

1
 The Taylor series for e x about x  c is

The radius of convergence R of this series is given by


Note that the radius of convergence for a power series  an ( x  c)n can be
n 0
obtained by

1 a
R where L  lim n1 . If L  0 , then R   ; if L   then R  0
L n an

 R   and the series converges for all x .

By Theorem 1

In particular for c  0 the Maclaurin series for e x :

2
Example: 2 Maclaureen series for f ( x)  sin x :

 f (0)  0

Hence the Maclaureen series for f ( x)  sin x

The series converge for all x by the ratio test:

3
Exercise : Show that the Maclaurin series for cos x converges for all x and given by

 We can combine the series for which we know the Maclaurin series to generate new series:

 Replace x by  x in the Maclaurin series for e x to obtain the Maclaurin series for
e x :

 For hyperbolic functions one may obtain the Maclaurin series representations by
using the ones for e x and e x :

4
Example: 3 Obtain the Maclaurin series for the following functions:
2
a) e  x /3

Substitute  x2 / 3 for x in the

Maclaurin series for e x

sin( x 2 ) sin( x 2 )
b) NOTE THAT: f ( x)  is not defined
x x
For all x  0 : sin( x 2 )
at x  0 but lim  0 and if we
x0 x
define f(0)=0 , then the series converges to
f  x  for all x

c) sin 2 ( x )

Use the trigonometric identity

1  cos 2 x
sin 2 x  and the
2
Maclaurin series for cos x

5
Example: 4 Find the Taylor series for ln x in powers of x  2 .
Solution
Using the Maclaurin series


(1)n1 n x 2 x3 x 4
ln(1  x)   x  x     ... (1  x  1)
n1 n 2 3 4

and letting t  ( x  2) / 2 :

and therefore

and this series is valid for 1  ( x  2) / 2  1, that is, 0  x  4 .

Example: 5 Find the Taylor series for cos x about  / 3 .

Solution Using addition formula for cosine

which is valid for all x .

6
Example: 6 Obtain the first three nonzero terms of the Maclaurin series for ln cos x
Solution  Write the Maclaurin series for cos x
 Use the Maclaurin series for ln(1  x)

Taylor’s Formula
n
f ( k ) (c ) Taylor polynomial of degree n for f
Pn ( x)   ( x  c) k
k 0 k!

7
Example: 7 Use Taylor’s Theorem to find the convergence interval for the Maclaurin series for the
function f ( x)  e x .

Solution:

f ( n1) ( s ) n1 for some s betwwen 0 and x

En ( x)  x
(n  1)!
es n 1
 x x
e x  0 and increasing  e s  e for any s  x
(n  1)!
x
e n 1
 x
(n  1)!
 0 as n  
Thus lim En ( x)  0 and
n

and the series converges to e x for all real numbers x .

Reference : R. A. Adams, C. Essex , Calculus: A Complete Course 9-th edition, Pearson, Canada, 2018.
(Textbook)