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9-11.

10 37

We start by supposing that f is any function that can be represented by a power series

1 f x  c0  c1x  a  c2x  a2  c3x  a3  c4x  a4     x  a  R

Let’s try to determine what the coefficients cn must be in terms of f. To begin, notice that
if we put x  a in Equation 1, then all terms after the first one are 0 and we get

f a  c0

By Theorem 11.9.2, we can differentiate the series in Equation 1 term by term:

2 f x  c1  2c2x  a  3c3x  a2  4c4x  a3     x  a  R

and substitution of x  a in Equation 2 gives

f a  c1

Now we differentiate both sides of Equation 2 and obtain

3 f x  2c2  2 ⴢ 3c3x  a  3 ⴢ 4c4x  a2     x  a  R

Again we put x  a in Equation 3. The result is

f a  2c2

Let’s apply the procedure one more time. Differentiation of the series in Equation 3 gives

4 f x  2 ⴢ 3c3  2 ⴢ 3 ⴢ 4c4x  a  3 ⴢ 4 ⴢ 5c5x  a2     x  a  R

and substitution of x  a in Equation 4 gives

f a  2 ⴢ 3c3  3!c3

By now you can see the pattern. If we continue to differentiate and substitute x  a, we
obtain

f na  2 ⴢ 3 ⴢ 4 ⴢ    ⴢ ncn  n!cn

Solving this equation for the nth coefficient cn , we get

f na
cn 
n!

This formula remains valid even for n  0 if we adopt the conventions that 0!  1 and
f 0  f . Thus we have proved the following theorem.
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9-11.10 38

5 THEOREM If f has a power series representation (expansion) at a, that is, if


f x   c x  a
n0
n
n
x  a  R
then its coefficients are given by the formula

f na
cn 
n!

Substituting this formula for cn back into the series, we see that if f has a power series
expansion at a, then it must be of the following form.


f na
6 f x  
n0 n!
x  an

f a f a f a

 f a  x  a  x  a2  x  a3    
1! 2! 3!

The series in Equation 6 is called the Taylor series of the function f at a (or about a
or centered at a). For the special case a  0 the Taylor series becomes


f n0 n f 0 f 0 2
7 f x  
n0 n!
x  f 0 
1!
x
2!
x  

This case arises frequently enough that it is given the special name Maclaurin series.
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9-11.10 39

8 THEOREM If If f x  Tn x  Rnx where Tn is the nth-degree Taylor polyno-

mial of f at a and
lim Rnx  0
nl

 
for x  a  R, then f is equal to the sum of its Taylor series on the interval
x  a  R. 

In trying to show that lim n l  Rnx  0 for a specific function f , we usually use the
following fact.

9    
TAYLOR’S INEQUALITY If f n1x  M for x  a  d, then the remainder
Rnx of the Taylor series satisfies the inequality

M
 R x   n  1!  x  a 
n
n1

for x  a  d 

V EXAMPLE 1 Find the Maclaurin series of the function f x  e x and its radius of
convergence.
SOLUTION If f x  e x, then f nx  e x, so f n0  e 0  1 for all n. Therefore the
Taylor series for f at 0 (that is, the Maclaurin series) is


f n0 n 
xn x x2 x3

n0 n!
x  
n0 n!
1
1!

2!

3!
 

To find the radius of convergence we let a n  x nn!. Then

  
a n1
an

x n1 n!
ⴢ n 
n  1! x
x
n1 
l 01  

so, by the Ratio Test, the series converges for all x and the radius of convergence
is R  . M
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9-11.10 40

V EXAMPLE 2 Prove that e x is equal to the sum of its Maclaurin series.

SOLUTION If f x  e x, then f n1x  e x for all n. If d is any positive number and
 x   d, then  f n1

x  e x  e d. So Taylor’s Inequality, with a  0 and M  e d,
says that
ed
 Rnx   n  1!
x   n1
 
for x  d

Notice that the same constant M  e d works for every value of n. But, from Equa-
tion 10, we have

lim
ed
x n1  e d lim
x n1
  0  
n l  n  1! n l  n  1!


xn
11 ex  
n0 n!
for all x M

In particular, if we put x  1 in Equation 11, we obtain the following expression

for the number e as a sum of an infinite series:


1 1 1 1
12 e 
n0 n!
1
1!

2!

3!
 

EXAMPLE 3 Find the Taylor series for f x  e x at a  2.

SOLUTION We have f n2  e 2 and so, putting a  2 in the definition of a Taylor series
(6), we get

f n2 
e2

n0 n!
x  2n  
n0 n!
x  2n

Again it can be verified, as in Example 1, that the radius of convergence is R  . As in

Example 2 we can verify that lim n l  Rnx  0, so

e2
13 ex  
n0 n!
x  2n for all x M
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9-11.10 41

EXAMPLE 4 Find the Maclaurin series for sin x and prove that it represents sin x for all x.

SOLUTION We arrange our computation in two columns as follows:

f x  sin x f 0  0

f x  cos x f 0  1

f x  sin x f 0  0

f x  cos x f 0  1

f 4x  sin x f 40  0

Since the derivatives repeat in a cycle of four, we can write the Maclaurin series as
follows:
f 0 f 0 2 f 0 3
f 0  x x  x  
1! 2! 3!

x3 x5 x7 x 2n1
x
3!

5!

7!
    1
n0
n
2n  1!

 
Since f n1x is sin x or cos x, we know that f n1x  1 for all x. So we can
takee M  1 in Taylor’s Inequality:

 R x   n  1!  x   n  1!

n1
M x
n1
14 n

By Equation 10 the right side of this inequality approaches 0 as n l , so

 
Rnx l 0 by the Squeeze Theorem. It follows that Rnx l 0 as n l , so sin x
is equal to the sum of its Maclaurin series by Theorem 8. M

We state the result of Example 4 for future reference.

x3 x5 x7
15 sin x  x     
3! 5! 7!

x 2n1
  1
n0
n
2n  1!
for all x

x2 x4 x6
16 cos x  1     
2! 4! 6!

x 2n

n0
 1 n
2n!
for all x
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9-11.10 42

17 THE BINOMIAL SERIES  

If k is any real number and x  1, then

1  x k 



n0

k n
n
x  1  kx 
kk  1 2
2!
x 
kk  1k  2 3
3!
x