Constructing Taylor Series

The Taylor series for $f(x)$ at $x = c$ is

$$f(c) + f'(c)(x - c) + \dfrac{f''(c)}{2!}(x - c)^2 + \dfrac{f'''(c)}{3!}(x - c)^3 + \cdots = \sum_{n=0}^\infty \dfrac{f^{(n)}(c)}{n!}(x - c)^n.$$

(By convention, $f^{(0)} = f$ .) When $c = 0$ , the series is called a Maclaurin series.

You can construct the series on the right provided that f is infinitely differentiable on an interval containing c. You already know how to determine the interval of convergence of the series. However, the fact that the series converges at x does not imply that the series converges to $f(x)$ .

Example. The function

$$f(x) = \cases{ e^{-1/x^2} & if $x \ne 0$ \cr 0 & if $x = 0$ \cr}$$

is infinitely differentiable everywhere. In particular, all the derivatives of f at 0 vanish, and the Maclaurin series for f is identically 0.

Hence, the Maclaurin series for f converges for all x, but only converges to $f(x)$ at $x = 0$ .

The following result ([1], page 418) gives a sufficient condition for the Taylor series of a function to converge to the function:

Theorem. Let $f(x)$ be infinitely differentiable on $a \le x \le b$ , and let $a \le c \le b$ . Suppose there is a constant M such that $|f^{(n)}(x)| \le M$ for all $n \ge 1$ , and for all x in $N \cap [a,b]$ , where N is a neighborhood of c. Then for all $x \in N \cap [a,b]$ ,

$$f(x) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty \dfrac{f^{(n)}(c)}{n!}(x - c)^n. \quad\halmos$$

In other words, under reasonable conditions:

Example. Find the first four nonzero terms and the general term of the Taylor series for $f(x) = e^x$ at $a = 0$ and at $a = 1$ by computing the derivatives of f.

$$f(x) = e^x, \quad f'(x) = e^x, \quad\hbox{and in general}\quad f^{(n)}(x) = e^x.$$

For $a = 0$ , $f^{(n)}(0) = e^0 = 1$ for all n. The Taylor series at $a = 0$ is

$$f(x) = 1 + x + \dfrac{1}{2!}x^2 + \dfrac{1}{3!}x^3 + \cdots + \dfrac{1}{n!}x^n + \cdots .$$

For $a = 1$ , $f^{(n)}(1) = e^1 = e$ for all n. The Taylor series at $a = 1$ is

$$f(x) = e + e(x - 1) + \dfrac{e}{2!}(x - 1)^2 + \dfrac{3}{3!}(x - 1)^3 + \cdots + \dfrac{1}{n!}(x - 1)^n + \cdots .\quad\halmos$$

Terminology. If you truncate the series after the $n^{\rm th}$ -degree term, what's left is the $n^{\rm th}$ - degree Taylor polynomial. For example, the third degree polynomial of $e^x$ at $a = 0$ is

$$p_3(x) = 1 + x + \dfrac{1}{2!}x^2 + \dfrac{1}{3!}x^3.$$

Note that the "n" here refers to the largest power of x, not the number of terms. For example, the Taylor series for $\dfrac{1}{1 - x^2}$ at $a = 0$ is

$$\dfrac{1}{1 - x^2} = 1 + x^2 + x^4 + \cdots + x^{2n} + \cdots.$$

The $2^{\rm nd}$ degree Taylor polynomial and the $3^{\rm rd}$ degree Taylor polynomial are equal:

$$p_2(x) = p_3(x) = 1 + x^2.\quad\halmos$$

Example. Find the $3^{\rm rd}$ degree Taylor polynomial for $f(x) = \tan x$ at $x = \dfrac{\pi}{4}$ .

$$f(x) = \tan x, \quad f'(x) = (\sec x)^2, \quad f''(x) = 2(\sec x)^2\tan x, \quad f'''(x) = 2(\sec x)^4 + 4(\sec x)^2(\tan x)^2.$$

Thus,

$$f\left(\dfrac{\pi}{4}\right) = 1, \quad f'\left(\dfrac{\pi}{4}\right) = 2, \quad f''\left(\dfrac{\pi}{4}\right) = 4, \quad f'''\left(\dfrac{\pi}{4}\right) = 16.$$

The $3^{\rm rd}$ degree Taylor polynomial is

$$p_3\left(x; \dfrac{\pi}{4}\right) = 1 + 2\left(x - \dfrac{\pi}{4}\right) + 2\left(x - \dfrac{\pi}{4}\right)^2 + \dfrac{8}{3}\left(x - \dfrac{\pi}{4}\right)^3.\quad\halmos$$

It's tedious to have to compute lots of derivatives, and in many cases you can derive a series from another, known series. Here are the series expansions for several important functions:

$$ \eqalignno { \dfrac{1}{1 - u} = \sum_{n=0}^\infty u^n &= 1 + u + u^2 + \cdots + u^n + \cdots \hbox{\quad} & -1 < u < 1 \cr e^u = \sum_{n=0}^\infty \dfrac{u^n}{n!} &= 1 + u + \dfrac{u^2}{2!} + \cdots + \dfrac{u^n}{n!} + \cdots \hbox{\quad} & -\infty < u < +\infty \cr \cos u = \sum_{n=0}^\infty (-1)^n \dfrac{u^{2n}}{(2n)!} &= 1 - \dfrac{u^2}{2!} + \dfrac{u^4}{4!} - \cdots + (-1)^n \dfrac{u^{2n}}{(2n)!} + \cdots \hbox{\quad} & -\infty < u < +\infty \cr \sin u = \sum_{n=0}^\infty (-1)^n \dfrac{u^{2n+1}}{(2n + 1)!} &= u - \dfrac{u^3}{3!} + \dfrac{u^5}{5!} - \cdots + (-1)^n \dfrac{u^{2n+1}}{(2n + 1)!} + \cdots \hbox{\quad} & -\infty < u < +\infty \cr \ln (1 + u) = \sum_{n=1}^\infty (-1)^{n+1} \dfrac{u^n}{n} &= u - \dfrac{u^2}{2} + \dfrac{u^3}{3} - \cdots + (-1)^{n+1} \dfrac{u^n}{n} + \cdots \hbox{\quad} & -1 < u \le 1 \cr (1 + u)^a &= 1 + \sum_{n=1}^\infty \dfrac{a(a - 1) \cdots (a - n + 1)}{n!}u^n \hbox{\quad} & -1 < u < 1 \cr } $$

Example. Find the Taylor series for $\ln x$ at $a = 1$ . What is its interval of convergence?

Use

$$\ln (1 + u) = \sum_{n=1}^\infty (-1)^{n+1} \dfrac{u^n}{n} = u - \dfrac{u^2}{2} + \dfrac{u^3}{3} - \cdots + (-1)^{n+1} \dfrac{u^n}{n} + \cdots.$$

I'm expanding at $a = 1$ , so I want the result to come out in powers of $x - 1$ . This is easy --- just set $u = x - 1$ :

$$\ln x = (x - 1) - \dfrac{1}{2}(x - 1)^2 + \dfrac{1}{3} (x - 1)^3 + \cdots + (-1)^{n+1} \dfrac{1}{n} (x - 1)^n.$$

The u-series converges for $-1 < u \le 1$ , so the x-series converges for $-1 < x - 1 \le 1$ , or $0 < x \le 2$ .

Example. The quantity $\left(1 - \dfrac{v^2}{c^2}\right)^{-1/2}$ occurs in special relativity. (v is the velocity of an object, and c is the speed of light.) Approximate $\left(1 - \dfrac{v^2}{c^2}\right)^{-1/2}$ using the first two nonzero terms of the binomial series.

$$(1 + u)^a = 1 + au + \dfrac{a(a - 1)}{2!}u^2 + \cdots,$$

so for $a = -\dfrac{1}{2}$ ,

$$(1 + u)^{-1/2} = 1 - \dfrac{1}{2}u + \dfrac{3}{8}u^2 - \cdots.$$

Take $u = -\dfrac{v^2}{c^2}$ :

$$\left(1 - \dfrac{v^2}{c^2}\right)^{-1/2} = 1 + \dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac{v^2}{c^2} + \dfrac{3}{8}\dfrac{v^4}{c^4} + \cdots \approx 1 + \dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac{v^2}{c^2}.$$

The approximation is good as long as v is small compared to c.

Example. Find the Taylor series for $\dfrac{1}{x + 3}$ at $a = 2$ . What is its interval of convergence?

I want things to come out in powers of $x - 2$ , so I'll write the function in terms of $x - 2$ :

$$\dfrac{1}{x + 3} = \dfrac{1}{5 + (x - 2)}.$$

I'll use the series for $\dfrac{1}{1 - u}$ . To do this, I need $1 - u$ on the bottom:

$$\dfrac{1}{5 + (x - 2)} = \dfrac{1}{5}\cdot \dfrac{1}{1 + \dfrac{x - 2}{5}} = \dfrac{1}{5}\cdot \dfrac{1}{1 - \left(-\dfrac{x - 2}{5}\right)}.$$

Let $u = -\dfrac{x - 2}{5}$ in the series for $\dfrac{1}{1 - u}$ . Then

$$\dfrac{1}{1 - \left(-\dfrac{x - 2}{5}\right)} = 1 - \dfrac{x - 2}{5} + \left(\dfrac{x - 2}{5}\right)^2 - \left(\dfrac{x - 2}{5}\right)^3 + \cdots .$$

Hence,

$$\dfrac{1}{x + 3} = \dfrac{1}{5}\cdot \left[1 - \dfrac{x - 2}{5} + \left(\dfrac{x - 2}{5}\right)^2 - \left(\dfrac{x - 2}{5}\right)^3 + \cdots\right].$$

The u-series converges for $-1 < u < 1$ , so the x-series converges for $-1 < -\dfrac{x - 2}{5} < 1$ , or $-3 < x < 7$ .

Example. Find the Taylor series for $\dfrac{x}{2 + x}$ at $a = -1$ .

Since I'm expanding at $a = -1$ , the answer should have the form

$$b_0 + b_1 (x + 1) + b_2 (x + 1)^2 + \cdots$$

where the b's are numbers. That is, the answer must come out in terms of powers of $x + 1$ .

Start with the function you're trying to expand. To get $x + 1$ 's in the answer, write the given function in terms of $x + 1$ :

$$\dfrac{x}{2 + x} = \dfrac{(x + 1) - 1}{1 + (x + 1)}.$$

(Notice that the work has to be legal algebra.)

I'll break up the fraction and do the pieces separately.

$$\dfrac{(x + 1) - 1}{1 + (x + 1)} = \dfrac{x + 1}{1 + (x + 1)} - \dfrac{1}{1 + (x + 1)}.$$

I want to "match" each piece against the standard series $\dfrac{1}{1 - u}$ . Here's the first piece:

$$\dfrac{x + 1}{1 + (x + 1)} = (x + 1) \dfrac{1}{1 - [-(x + 1)]}.$$

Expand $\dfrac{1}{1 - [-(x + 1)]}$ by setting $u = -(x + 1)$ in $\dfrac{1}{1 - u}$ :

$$(x + 1) \dfrac{1}{1 - [-(x + 1)]} = (x + 1)\cdot \left(1 - (x + 1) + (x + 1)^2 - (x + 1)^3 + \cdots \right) = (x + 1) - (x + 1)^2 + (x + 1)^3 - \cdots.$$

Here's the second piece:

$$\dfrac{1}{1 + (x + 1)} = \dfrac{1}{1 - [-(x + 1)]} = 1 - (x + 1) + (x + 1)^2 - (x + 1)^3 + \cdots.$$ Put the two pieces together:

$$\left[(x + 1) - (x + 1)^2 + (x + 1)^3 - \cdots\right] - \left[1 - (x + 1) + (x + 1)^2 - (x + 1)^3 + \cdots\right] =$$

$$\matrix{ & & (x + 1) & - & (x + 1)^2 & + & (x + 1)^3 & - & \cdots \cr - 1 & + & (x + 1) & - & (x + 1)^2 & + & (x + 1)^3 & - & \cdots \cr} =$$

$$-1 + 2(x + 1) - 2(x + 1)^2 + 2(x + 1)^3 - \cdots.$$

That is,

$$\dfrac{x}{2 + x} = -1 + 2(x + 1) - 2(x + 1)^2 + 2(x + 1)^3 - \cdots.\quad\halmos$$

Example. What is the Maclaurin series for $f(x) = 7x^2 - 3x + 13$ ? What is the Taylor series for $f(x) = 7x^2 - 3x + 13$ at $a = -1$ ?

The Maclaurin series for a polynomial is the polynomial: $f(x) = 7x^2 - 3x + 13$ .

To obtain the Taylor expansion at $a = -1$ , write the function in terms of $x + 1$ :

$$7x^2 - 3x + 13 = 7(x + 1)^2 - 17x + 6 = 7(x + 1)^2 - 17(x + 1) + 13.\quad\halmos$$

It's also possible to construct power series by integrating or differentiating other power series. A power series may be integrated or differentiated term-by-term in the interior of its interval of convergence. (You will need to check convergence at the endpoints separately.)

Example. The Maclaurin series for $\dfrac{1}{1 + x}$ is

$$\dfrac{1}{1 + x} = 1 - x + x^2 - x^3 + \cdots .$$

(Put $u = -x$ in the series for $\dfrac{1}{1 - u}$ .) It converges for $-1 < x < 1$ .

Integrate the series from 0 to u:

$$\ln (1 + u) = \int_0^u \left(1 - x + x^2 - x^3 + \cdots\right)\,dx = u - \dfrac{u^2}{2} + \dfrac{u^3}{3} - \dfrac{u^4}{4} + \cdots .$$

This series will converge for $-1 < u < 1$ . The left side blows up at $u = -1$ . On the other hand, if $u = 1$ ,

$$\ln 2 = 1 - \dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{3} - \dfrac{1}{4} + \cdots .$$

The right side does converges (by the Alternating Series Test), so the $\ln (1 + u)$ series converges for $-1 < u \le 1$ .

Example. Find the Taylor series for $\ln (5 - x)$ at $a = 2$ .

I'll use the fact that a Taylor series can be integrated term-by-term on the interval where it converges absolutely.

$$\int_2^x \dfrac{1}{5 - t}\,dt = \left[ -\ln (5 - t) \right]_2^x = -\ln (5 - x) + \ln 3, \quad\quad\hbox{so}\quad\quad \ln (5 - x) = \ln 3 - \int_2^x \dfrac{1}{5 - t}\,dt.$$

(I integrated from 2 to x because I want the expansion at $a = 2$ .) Now find the series at $a = 2$ for $\dfrac{1}{5 - t}$ :

$$\dfrac{1}{5 - t} = \dfrac{1}{3 - (t - 2)} = \dfrac{1}{3} \dfrac{1}{1 - \dfrac{t - 2}{3}} = \dfrac{1}{3} \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \dfrac{(t - 2)^n}{3^n}.$$

Plug this series back into the integral and integrate term-by-term:

$$\ln (5 - x) = \ln 3 - \int_2^x \dfrac{1}{5 - t}\,dt = \ln 3 - \dfrac{1}{3} \int_2^x \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \dfrac{(t - 2)^n}{3^n}\,dt = \ln 3 - \dfrac{1}{3} \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \left[ \dfrac{(t - 2)^{n+1}}{3^n(n + 1)} \right]_2^x =$$

$$\ln 3 - \dfrac{1}{3} \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \dfrac{(x - 2)^{n+1}}{3^n(n + 1)} = \ln 3 - \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \dfrac{(x - 2)^{n+1}}{3^{n+1}(n + 1)}.\quad\halmos$$

Example. Find $f^{(100)}(0)$ for $f(x) = \dfrac{1}{3 - x}$ .

$$\dfrac{1}{3 - x} = \dfrac{1}{3}\cdot \dfrac{1}{1 - \dfrac{x}{3}} = \dfrac{1}{3}\cdot \left(1 + \dfrac{x}{3} + \dfrac{x^2}{3^2} + \cdots + \dfrac{x^n}{3^n} + \cdots\right) =$$

$$\dfrac{1}{3} + \dfrac{x}{3^2} + \dfrac{x^2}{3^3} + \cdots + \dfrac{x^n}{3^{n+1}} + \cdots.$$

The $100^{\rm th}$ degree term is $\dfrac{x^{100}}{3^{101}}$ . On the other hand, Taylor's formula says that the $100^{\rm th}$ degree term is $\dfrac{f^{(100)}(0)}{100!}x^{100}$ . Equating the coefficients, I get

$$\dfrac{1}{3^{101}} = \dfrac{f^{(100)}(0)}{100!}, \quad\hbox{so}\quad f^{(100)}(0) = \dfrac{100!}{3^{101}}.\quad\halmos$$

[1] Tom M. Apostol, Mathematical Analysis. Reading, Massachusetts: Addision-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1957.

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Last updated: December 2, 2005

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