Mathematics Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [taylor-expansion]

Questions regarding the Taylor series expansion of univariate and multivariate functions, including coefficients and bounds on remainders. A special case is also known as the Maclaurin series.

The Taylor expansion is the power series expansion of a function at a point. It represents a function as an infinite sum with terms calculated from the function's derivatives at that point. More precisely, It is defined as $$ \sum^{\infty}_{n=0}\frac{f^{(n)}(a)}{n!}(x-a)^n=f(a)+\frac{f'(a)}{1!}(x-a)+\frac{f''(a)}{2!}(x-a)^2+\cdots $$

It happens often in applications that the Taylor expansion of $f$ at $a$ converges to $f$ (pointwise and locally uniformly) on some neighborhood of $a$: when this happens, the function is said to be analytic at $a$.

Applications:

A Taylor series is an idea used in computer science, calculus, and other kinds of higher-level mathematics. It is a series that is used to create an estimate (guess) of what a function looks like. Taylor Series are also used in power flow analysis of electrical power systems (Newton-Raphson method). Multivariate Taylor series is used in different optimization techniques; that is, you approximate your function as a series of linear or quadratic forms, and then successively iterate on them to find the optimal value.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series

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Connection between Fourier transform and Taylor series

Both Fourier transform and Taylor series are means to represent functions in a different form. What is the connection between these two? Is there a way to get from one to the other (and back again)? Is there an overall, connecting (geometric?)…
vonjd
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Is the derivative the natural logarithm of the left-shift?

(Disclaimer: I'm a high school student, and my knowledge of mathematics extends only to some elementary high school calculus. I don't know if what I'm about to do is valid mathematics.) I noticed something really neat the other day. Suppose we…
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What are the practical applications of the Taylor Series?

I started learning about the Taylor Series in my calculus class, and although I understand the material well enough, I'm not really sure what actual applications there are for the series. Question: What are the practical applications of the Taylor…
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Simplest proof of Taylor's theorem

I have for some time been trawling through the Internet looking for an aesthetic proof of Taylor's theorem. By which I mean this: there are plenty of proofs that introduce some arbitrary construct: no mention is given of from whence this beast came.…
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Evaluating sums and integrals using Taylor's Theorem

Taylor's theorem states that $$f(x)-\sum_{k=0}^n\frac{f^{(k)}(a)}{k!}(x-a)^k = \int_a^x \frac{f^{(n+1)} (t)}{n!} (x - t)^n \, dt $$ We can use this to evaluate integrals. For example, consider $f(x)=\frac{b!x^{b+n+1}}{(b+n+1)!}$. This has…
Pauly B
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Is there any geometric intuition for the factorials in Taylor expansions?

Given a smooth real function $f$, we can approximate it as a sum of polynomials as $$f(x+h)=f(x)+h f'(x) + \frac{h^2}{2!} f''(x)+ \dotsb = \sum_{k=0}^n \frac{h^k}{k!} f^{(k)}(x) + h^n R_n(h),$$ where $\lim_{h\to0} R_n(h)=0$. There are multiple ways…
glS
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Is there a function with the property $f(n)=f^{(n)}(0)$?

Is there a not identically zero, real-analytic function $f:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$, which satisfies $$f(n)=f^{(n)}(0),\quad n\in\mathbb{N} \text{ or } \mathbb N^+?$$ What I got so far: Set $$f(x)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{a_n}{n!}x^n,$$ then…
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Why is the notion of analytic function so important?

I think I have some understanding of what an analytic function is — it is a function that can be approximated by a Taylor power series. But why is the notion of "analytic function" so important? I guess being analytic entails some more interesting…
Code Complete
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How are the Taylor Series derived?

I know the Taylor Series are infinite sums that represent some functions like $\sin(x)$. But it has always made me wonder how they were derived? How is something like $$\sin(x)=\sum\limits_{n=0}^\infty \dfrac{x^{2n+1}}{(2n+1)!}\cdot(-1)^n =…
TrueDefault
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taylor series of $\ln(1+x)$?

Compute the taylor series of $\ln(1+x)$ I've first computed derivatives (up to the 4th) of ln(1+x) $f^{'}(x)$ = $\frac{1}{1+x}$ $f^{''}(x) = \frac{-1}{(1+x)^2}$ $f^{'''}(x) = \frac{2}{(1+x)^3}$ $f^{''''}(x) = \frac{-6}{(1+x)^4}$ Therefore the…
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This one weird thing that bugs me about summation and the like

Most of us know $$\sum_{n=a}^b c_n=c_a+c_{a+1}...+c_{b-1}+c_b$$ Some of us know $$\prod_{n=a}^b c_n=c_a \cdot c_{a+1}...c_{b-1} \cdot c_{b}$$ A few of us know $$\underset{j=a}{\overset{b}{\LARGE\mathrm…
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Taylor series for $\sqrt{x}$?

I'm trying to figure Taylor series for $\sqrt{x}$. Unfortunately all web pages and books show examples for $\sqrt{x+1}$. Is there any particular reason no one shows Taylor series for exactly $\sqrt{x}$?
bodacydo
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$e$ to 50 billion decimal places

Sorry if this is a really naive question, but in my reading of a lot of textbooks and articles, there is a lot of mention of how many decimals we know of a certain number today, such as $\pi$ or $e$. An excerpt from my textbook: In 1748, Leonard…
Snowman
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Why doesn't a Taylor series converge always?

The Taylor expansion itself can be derived from mean value theorems which themselves are valid over the entire domain of the function. Then why doesn't the Taylor series converge over the entire domain? I understand the part about the convergence of…
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Why do we use big Oh in taylor series?

In the taylor series for sin(x), we write: $$ \sin{x} = x - \frac{x^3}{6} + \frac{x^5}{120} + O(x^7) $$ Meaning that $\sin{x} = x - \frac{x^3}{6} + \frac{x^5}{120}$ and terms of order $x^7$ and higher, so we say that those 'higher order terms' are…
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