SECTION 11.

11 APPLICATIONS OF TAYLOR POLYNOMIALS |||| 749

11.11 APPLICATIONS OF TAYLOR POLYNOMIALS

In this section we explore two types of applications of Taylor polynomials. First we look
at how they are used to approximate functions––computer scientists like them because
polynomials are the simplest of functions. Then we investigate how physicists and engi-
neers use them in such fields as relativity, optics, blackbody radiation, electric dipoles, the
velocity of water waves, and building highways across a desert.

APPROXIMATING FUNCTIONS BY POLYNOMIALS

Suppose that f 共x兲 is equal to the sum of its Taylor series at a:


f 共n兲共a兲
f 共x兲 苷 兺
n苷0 n!
共x  a兲n

In Section 11.10 we introduced the notation Tn共x兲 for the nth partial sum of this series
and called it the n th-degree Taylor polynomial of f at a. Thus

n
f 共i兲共a兲
Tn共x兲 苷 兺
i苷0 i!
共x  a兲i

f 共a兲 f 共a兲 f 共n兲共a兲

苷 f 共a兲  共x  a兲  共x  a兲2      共x  a兲n
1! 2! n!

Since f is the sum of its Taylor series, we know that Tn共x兲 l f 共x兲 as n l  and so Tn can
be used as an approximation to f : f 共x兲 ⬇ Tn共x兲.
y Notice that the first-degree Taylor polynomial
y=´ y=T£(x)
T1共x兲 苷 f 共a兲  f 共a兲共x  a兲
y=T™(x)

y=T¡(x) is the same as the linearization of f at a that we discussed in Section 3.10. Notice also that
T1 and its derivative have the same values at a that f and f have. In general, it can be
(0, 1) shown that the derivatives of Tn at a agree with those of f up to and including derivatives
of order n (see Exercise 38).
0 x To illustrate these ideas let’s take another look at the graphs of y 苷 e x and its first few
Taylor polynomials, as shown in Figure 1. The graph of T1 is the tangent line to y 苷 e x
at 共0, 1兲; this tangent line is the best linear approximation to e x near 共0, 1兲. The graph
of T2 is the parabola y 苷 1  x  x 2兾2, and the graph of T3 is the cubic curve
FIGURE 1
y 苷 1  x  x 2兾2  x 3兾6, which is a closer fit to the exponential curve y 苷 e x than T2.
The next Taylor polynomial T4 would be an even better approximation, and so on.
The values in the table give a numerical demonstration of the convergence of the Taylor
x 苷 0.2 x 苷 3.0
polynomials Tn共x兲 to the function y 苷 e x. We see that when x 苷 0.2 the convergence is
T2共x兲 1.220000 8.500000 very rapid, but when x 苷 3 it is somewhat slower. In fact, the farther x is from 0, the more
T4共x兲 1.221400 16.375000 slowly Tn共x兲 converges to e x.
T6共x兲 1.221403 19.412500 When using a Taylor polynomial Tn to approximate a function f , we have to ask the
T8共x兲 1.221403 20.009152 questions: How good an approximation is it? How large should we take n to be in order to
T10共x兲 1.221403 20.079665 achieve a desired accuracy? To answer these questions we need to look at the absolute
ex 1.221403 20.085537 value of the remainder:

ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ 苷 ⱍ f 共x兲  T 共x兲 ⱍ

n n
750 |||| CHAPTER 11 INFINITE SEQUENCES AND SERIES

There are three possible methods for estimating the size of the error:

ⱍ ⱍ
1. If a graphing device is available, we can use it to graph Rn共x兲 and thereby esti-
mate the error.
2. If the series happens to be an alternating series, we can use the Alternating Series
Estimation Theorem.
3. In all cases we can use Taylor’s Inequality (Theorem 11.10.9), which says that if
ⱍ f 共n1兲共x兲ⱍ M , then
M
ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ
n
共n  1兲! ⱍ
xa ⱍ
n1

V EXAMPLE 1
(a) Approximate the function f 共x兲 苷 s
3
x by a Taylor polynomial of degree 2 at a 苷 8.
(b) How accurate is this approximation when 7 x 9?
SOLUTION
(a) f 共x兲 苷 s
3
x 苷 x 1兾3 f 共8兲 苷 2

f 共x兲 苷 13 x2兾3 f 共8兲 苷 121

f 共x兲 苷  29 x5兾3 f 共8兲 苷  144

1

8兾3
f 共x兲 苷 10
27 x

Thus the second-degree Taylor polynomial is

f 共8兲 f 共8兲
T2共x兲 苷 f 共8兲  共x  8兲  共x  8兲2
1! 2!
苷 2  121 共x  8兲  288 共x  8兲2
1

The desired approximation is

x ⬇ T2共x兲 苷 2  121 共x  8兲  288 共x  8兲2

3 1
s

(b) The Taylor series is not alternating when x  8, so we can’t use the Alternating
Series Estimation Theorem in this example. But we can use Taylor’s Inequality with
n 苷 2 and a 苷 8:
M
R2共x兲 ⱍ
3!
x8 3 ⱍ ⱍ ⱍ
where f 共x兲 ⱍ ⱍ M . Because x  7, we have x 8兾3  7 8兾3 and so

10 1 10 1
f 共x兲 苷 ⴢ 8兾3 ⴢ 8兾3  0.0021
27 x 27 7
Therefore we can take M 苷 0.0021. Also 7 x 9, so 1 x8 1 and
ⱍx8 ⱍ
1. Then Taylor’s Inequality gives

0.0021 0.0021
ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ
2
3!
ⴢ 13 苷
6
 0.0004

Thus, if 7 x 9, the approximation in part (a) is accurate to within 0.0004. M

 SECTION 11.11 APPLICATIONS OF TAYLOR POLYNOMIALS |||| 751

2.5 Let’s use a graphing device to check the calculation in Example 1. Figure 2 shows that
the graphs of y 苷 s3
x and y 苷 T2共x兲 are very close to each other when x is near 8. Fig-
T™ ⱍ ⱍ
ure 3 shows the graph of R2共x兲 computed from the expression

#x
y= œ„ ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ 苷 ⱍ sx  T 共x兲 ⱍ
2
3
2

We see from the graph that

15
ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ  0.0003
0
2
FIGURE 2
when 7 x 9. Thus the error estimate from graphical methods is slightly better than the
0.0003 error estimate from Taylor’s Inequality in this case.

V EXAMPLE 2
(a) What is the maximum error possible in using the approximation
y=| R™(x)|
x3 x5
sin x ⬇ x  
3! 5!
7 9
0
when 0.3 x 0.3? Use this approximation to find sin 12 correct to six decimal
FIGURE 3 places.
(b) For what values of x is this approximation accurate to within 0.00005?
SOLUTION
(a) Notice that the Maclaurin series

x3 x5 x7
sin x 苷 x     
3! 5! 7!
is alternating for all nonzero values of x, and the successive terms decrease in size
ⱍ ⱍ
because x  1, so we can use the Alternating Series Estimation Theorem. The error
in approximating sin x by the first three terms of its Maclaurin series is at most

冟 冟 x7
7!
苷
x 7
5040
ⱍ ⱍ
If 0.3 x ⱍ ⱍ
0.3, then x 0.3, so the error is smaller than

共0.3兲7
⬇ 4.3  108
5040
To find sin 12 we first convert to radian measure.

sin 12 苷 sin 冉 冊 冉 冊

12
180
苷 sin

15

⬇

15
冉 冊 冉 冊 
15
3
1
3!


15
5
1
5!
⬇ 0.20791169

Thus, correct to six decimal places, sin 12 ⬇ 0.207912.

(b) The error will be smaller than 0.00005 if

ⱍxⱍ 7
 0.00005
5040
752 |||| CHAPTER 11 INFINITE SEQUENCES AND SERIES

Solving this inequality for x, we get

ⱍxⱍ7
 0.252 or ⱍ x ⱍ  共0.252兲 1兾7
⬇ 0.821

So the given approximation is accurate to within 0.00005 when x  0.82. ⱍ ⱍ M

TEC Module 11.10/11.11 graphically What if we use Taylor’s Inequality to solve Example 2? Since f 共7兲共x兲 苷 cos x, we
shows the remainders in Taylor polynomial
approximations.
ⱍ
have f 共7兲共x兲ⱍ 1 and so
1
R6共x兲 ⱍ 7!
x 7 ⱍ ⱍ ⱍ
4.3  10–*
So we get the same estimates as with the Alternating Series Estimation Theorem.
y=| Rß(x)| What about graphical methods? Figure 4 shows the graph of

ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ 苷 ⱍ sin x  ( x  x  x ) ⱍ
6
1
6
3 1
120
5

and we see from it that ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ  4.3  10 when ⱍ x ⱍ 0.3. This is the same estimate
6
8

_0.3
0
0.3 that we obtained in Example 2. For part (b) we want ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ  0.00005, so we graph both
6
y 苷 ⱍ R 共x兲 ⱍ and y 苷 0.00005 in Figure 5. By placing the cursor on the right intersection
6
FIGURE 4 point we find that the inequality is satisfied when ⱍ x ⱍ  0.82. Again this is the same esti-
mate that we obtained in the solution to Example 2.
0.00006 If we had been asked to approximate sin 72 instead of sin 12 in Example 2, it would
y=0.00005 have been wise to use the Taylor polynomials at a 苷 兾3 (instead of a 苷 0) because they
are better approximations to sin x for values of x close to 兾3. Notice that 72 is close to
y=| Rß(x)| 60 (or 兾3 radians) and the derivatives of sin x are easy to compute at 兾3.
Figure 6 shows the graphs of the Maclaurin polynomial approximations
x3
_1 1 T1共x兲 苷 x T3共x兲 苷 x 
0 3!
x3 x5 x3 x5 x7
FIGURE 5 T5共x兲 苷 x   T7共x兲 苷 x   
3! 5! 3! 5! 7!
to the sine curve. You can see that as n increases, Tn共x兲 is a good approximation to sin x on
a larger and larger interval.
y T¡
T∞

0 x

y=sin x
FIGURE 6 T£ T¶

One use of the type of calculation done in Examples 1 and 2 occurs in calculators and
computers. For instance, when you press the sin or e x key on your calculator, or when a
computer programmer uses a subroutine for a trigonometric or exponential or Bessel func-
tion, in many machines a polynomial approximation is calculated. The polynomial is often
a Taylor polynomial that has been modified so that the error is spread more evenly through-
out an interval.

APPLIC ATIONS TO PHYSICS

Taylor polynomials are also used frequently in physics. In order to gain insight into an
equation, a physicist often simplifies a function by considering only the first two or three
terms in its Taylor series. In other words, the physicist uses a Taylor polynomial as an