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