ApproximatingfunctionsbyTaylorPolynomials.pdfVIP

Chapter 4 Approximating functions by Taylor Polynomials. 4.1 Linear Approximations We have already seen how to approximate a function using its tangent line. This was the key idea in Euler’s method. If we know the function value at some point (say f (a )) and the value of the derivative at the same point (f (a )) we can use these to find the tangent line, and then use the tangent line to approximate f (x ) for other points x . Of course, this approximation will only be good when x is relatively near a. The tangent line approximation of f (x ) for x near a is called the first degree Taylor Polynomial of f (x ) and is: f (x ) ≈ f (a ) + f (a )(x − a ) f(x) ✻ ✲ x For example, we can approximate the value of sin (x ) for values of x near zero, using the fact that we know sin 0 = 0, the derivative of d sin (x ) = cos (x ) and cos (0) = 1 dx sin (.02) ≈ sin 0 + cos 0 (.02 − 0) = 0 + 1(.02) = +.02 This may seem like a useless idea. After all, your calculator will give you an exact(??) value of sin x for any x you choose. But, did you ever wonder how your calculator knew all those numbers? It hasn’t remembered them all, rather it remembers a polynomial approximation for sin x and uses it to calculate any particular value that you request. This requires much less memory storage space in your calculator. 4.2 Quadratic Approximations To get a better approximation of our function we try to approximate it using a quadratic polynomial. An- other thing we could try is to find a polynomial that has the same value as the function at some point a, the 16 Chapter 4: Taylor Series