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Cal101 Taylor Polynomials

The document provides examples and explanations of Taylor polynomials, which are polynomials that can be used to approximate functions. Taylor polynomials are formed by taking the derivatives of a function f(x) at a point a and using those derivatives to determine the coefficients of a polynomial Pn(x). Higher degree polynomials provide better approximations near the point a. Several examples are worked out to demonstrate how to determine Taylor polynomials of various degrees for different functions like sin(x), ln(x), and arctan(x) near given points.

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51 views4 pages

Cal101 Taylor Polynomials

The document provides examples and explanations of Taylor polynomials, which are polynomials that can be used to approximate functions. Taylor polynomials are formed by taking the derivatives of a function f(x) at a point a and using those derivatives to determine the coefficients of a polynomial Pn(x). Higher degree polynomials provide better approximations near the point a. Several examples are worked out to demonstrate how to determine Taylor polynomials of various degrees for different functions like sin(x), ln(x), and arctan(x) near given points.

Uploaded by

marchelo_chelo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Arkansas Tech University

MATH 2924: Calculus II


Dr. Marcel B. Finan
22 Approximations by Taylors Polynomials
In this and the next section we are interested in approximating function val-
ues by using polynomials which are easy to compute. The polynomials used
in the process are referred to as Taylors polynomials.
Let f(x) be a function which has derivatives f

(a), f

(a), f

(a), , f
(n)
(a).
We want to approximate f(x) by a polynomial of degree n as follows.
f(x) c
0
+ c
1
(x a) + c
2
(x a)
2
+ c
3
(x a)
3
+ + c
n
(x a)
n
.
Note that f(a) c
0
. Now if we take the rst derivative of f(x) we nd
f

(x) c
1
+ 2c
2
(x a) + 3c
3
(x a)
2
+ 4c
4
(x a)
3
+ + nc
n
(x a)
n
.
From this we see that f

(a) c
1
. Next, take the second derivative of f(x) to
obtain
f

(x) 2 1c
2
+3 2c
3
(x a) +4 3c
4
(x a)
2
+ +n (n 1)c
n
(x a)
n2
This implies that f

(a) 2 1c
2
= 2!c
2
or c
2

f

(a)
2!
. Again, taking the third
order derivative of f(x) we nd
f

(x) 3 2 1c
3
+ 4 3 2c
4
(x a) + + n (n 1) (n 2)c
n
(x a)
n3
.
It follows that f

(a) 3 2 1c
3
= 3!c
3
or c
3

f

(a)
3!
. Continuing this process
of taking successive derivatives we nd c
4

f
(4)
(a)
4!
, , c
n

f
(n)
(a)
n!
. Hence,
f(x) can be approximated by the polynomial
f(x) f(a)+
f

(a)
1!
(xa)+
f

(a)
2!
(xa)
2
+
f

(a)
3!
(xa)
3
+ +
f
(n)
(a)
n!
(xa)
n
.
We dene the nth Taylor approximation of f(x) at x = a to be the
polynomial
P
n
(x) = f(a)+
f

(a)
1!
(xa)+
f

(a)
2!
(xa)
2
+
f

(a)
3!
(xa)
3
+ +
f
(n)
(a)
n!
(xa)
n
.
Example 22.1
Use the process of successive dierentiation to write the polynomial
p(x) = x
2
+ x + 2
in the form
p(x) = c
0
+ c
1
(x 2) + c
2
(x 2)
2
.
1
Solution.
We have
p(x) =x
2
+ x + 2, c
0
=p(2) = 8
p

(x) =2x + 1, c
1
=p

(2) = 5
p

(x) =2, c
2
=
p

(2)
2!
= 1
Thus,
p(x) = 8 + 5(x 2) + (x 2)
2
Example 22.2
Find the 4th degree Taylor polynomial approximating
f(x) =
1
1 + x
near a = 0.
Solution.
We have
f(x) =
1
x + 1
, c
0
= f(0) = 1
f

(x) =(x + 1)
2
, c
1
= f

(0) = 1
f

(x) =2(x + 1)
3
, c
2
=
f

(0)
2!
=
2
2
= 1
f

(x) =6(x + 1)
4
, c
3
=
f

(0)
3!
= 1
f
(4)
(x) =24(x + 1)
5
, c
4
=
f
(4)
(0)
4!
= 1
Thus,
P
4
(x) = 1 x + x
2
x
3
+ x
4
.
Example 22.3
Find the third degree Taylor polynomial approximating
f(x) = arctan x,
near a = 0.
2
Solution.
We have
f(x) =arctan x, c
0
= f(0) = 0
f

(x) =
1
1 + x
2
, c
1
= f

(0) = 1
f

(x) =(1 + x
2
)
2
(2x), c
2
=
f

(0)
2!
= 0
f

(x) =2(1 + x
2
)
3
(4x
2
) 2(1 + x
2
)
2
, c
3
=
f

(0)
3!
=
1
3
Thus,
P
3
(x) = x
1
3
x
3
.
Example 22.4
Find the fth degree Taylor polynomial approximating
f(x) = ln (1 + x),
near a = 0.
Solution.
We have
f(x) = ln (1 + x), c
0
= f(0) = 0
f

(x) =
1
1+x
, c
1
= f

(0) = 1
f

(x) =
1
(1+x)
2
, c
2
=
f

(0)
2!
=
1
2
f

(x) =
2
(1+x)
3
, c
3
=
f

(0)
3!
=
1
3
f
(4)
(x) =
6
(1+x)
4
, c
4
=
f
(4)
(0)
4!
=
1
4
f
(5)
(x) =
24
(1+x)
5
, c
5
=
f
(5)
(0)
5!
=
1
5
Thus,
P
5
(x) = x
1
2
x
2
+
1
3
x
3

1
4
x
4
+
1
5
x
5
.
Example 22.5
Find the fourth degree Taylor polynomial approximating
f(x) = sin x,
near a =

2
.
3
Solution.
We have
f(x) = sin x, c
0
= f(

2
) = 1
f

(x) = cos x, c
1
= f

2
) = 0
f

(x) = sin x, c
2
=
f

2
)
2!
=
1
2
f

(x) = cos x, c
3
=
f

2
)
3!
= 0
f
(4)
(x) = sin x, c
4
=
f
(4)
(

2
)
4!
=
1
24
Thus,
P
4
(x) = 1
1
2
(x

2
)
2
+
1
24
(x

2
)
4
.
Example 22.6
Suppose that the function f(x) is approximated near x = 0 by a sixth degree
Taylor polynomial
P
6
(x) = 3x 4x
3
+ 5x
6
.
Find the value of the following:
(a) f(0) (b) f

(0) (c) f

(0) (d) f
(5)
(0) (e) f
(6)
(0)
Solution.
If
P
6
(x) = c
0
+ c
1
x + c
2
x
2
+ c
3
x
3
+ c
4
x
4
+ c
5
x
5
+ c
6
x
6
then c
0
= 0, c
1
= 3, c
2
= 0, c
3
= 4, c
4
= c
5
= 0, and c
6
= 5.
(a) f(0) = c
0
= 0, (b) f

(0) = c
1
= 3, (c) f

(0) = 3!c
3
= 24, (d)
f
(5)
(0) = 5!c
5
= 0, (e) f
(6)
(0) = 6!c
6
= 3600.
Example 22.7
Let g(x) be a function such that g(5) = 3, g

(5) = 1, g

(5) = 1 and g

(5) =
3.
(a) What is the Taylor polynomial of degree 3 for g(x) near 5?
(b) Use (a) to approximate g(4.9).
Solution
(a) We have: c
0
= g(5) = 3, c
1
= g

(5) = 1, c
2
=
g

(5)
2!
=
1
2
, and c
3
=
g

(5)
3!
=

1
2
. Thus, P
3
(x) = 3 (x 5) +
1
2
(x 5)
2

1
2
(x 5)
3
.
(b) g(4.9) = 3 (4.9 5) +
1
2
(4.9 5)
2

1
2
(4.9 5)
3
= 3.1675.
4

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