Joe Foster

The Taylor Remainder

Taylor’s Formula: If f (x) has derivatives of all orders in a n open interval I containing a, then for each positive integer
n and for each x ∈ I,

f 00 (a) f (n) (a)

f (x) = f (a) + f 0 (a)(x − a) + (x − a)2 + · · · + (x − a)n + Rn (x),
2! n!

where

f (n+1) (c)
Rn (x) = (x − a)n+1
(n + 1)!

for some c between a and x.

Definitions: The second equation is called Taylor’s formula. The function Rn (x) is called the remainder of order n or
the error term for the approximation of f (x) by Pn (x) over I.

If Rn (x) −→ 0 as n −→ ∞ for all x ∈ I, we say that the Taylor Series generated by f (x) at x = a converges to f (x) on I,
and we write
∞
X f (n) (a)
f (x) = (x − a)n .
n=0
n!

Often we can estimate Rn (x) without knowing the value of c.

 
The Remainder Estimation Theorem: If there is a positive constant M such that f (n+1) (t) ≤ M for all t between x
and a, inclusive, then the remainder term Rn (x) in Taylor’s Theorem satisfies the inequality

|x − a|n+1
|Rn (x)| ≤ M .
(n + 1)!

If this inequality holds for every n and the other conditions of Taylor’s Theorem are satisfied by f (x), then the series
converges to f (x).

Example 1: Show that the Taylor Series generated by f (x) = ex at x = 0 converges to f (x) for every value of x.

f (x) has derivatives of all orders on (−∞, ∞). Using the Taylor Polynomial generated by f (x) = ex at a = 0 and Taylor’s
formula, we have
x2 xn
ex = 1 + x + + ··· + + Rn (x)
2! n!

ec
where Rn (x) = xn+1 for some c between 0 and x. Recall that ex is an increasing function, so if 0 < |c| < |x|, we
(n + 1)!
know 1 < e|c| < e|x| . Thus,

ec |x|n+1 e|x| |x|n+1 |x|n+1

lim |Rn (x)| = lim ≤ lim = e|x| lim = 0.
n→∞ n→∞ (n + 1)! n→∞ (n + 1)! n→∞ (n + 1)!

Hence, since lim Rn (x) = 0 for all x, the Taylor series converges to ex on (−∞, ∞).
n→∞

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MATH 142 - The Taylor Remainder Joe Foster

x2
Example 2: Estimate the error if P2 (x) = 1 − is used to estimate the value of cos(x) at x = 0.6.
2

We are estimating f (x) = cos(x) with its 2nd degree Taylor polynomial (centred at zero), so we can bound the error by
using the remainder estimation Theorem, with n = 2. So,
 3 
  f (c) 3   | sin(c)| 3  1 
Error = |R2 (x)| = x   = |x|  ≤ |x|3  = 0.036.
  
x=0.6 3! x=0.6 3! x=0.6 3! x=0.6

x3
Example 3: For approximately what values of x can you replace sin(x) by x − with an error of magnitude no greater
6
than 4 × 10−3 ?

We wish to estimate f (x) = sin(x) with its 3rd degree Taylor polynomial (centred at zero), so first we bound the error
using the remainder estimation theorem:
 4 
 f (c) 4  | sin(c)| 4 1
Error = |R3 (x)| =  x  = x ≤ x4 .
4! 4! 4!

We want the error to be less than or equal to 4 × 10−3 , so we solve the following inequality,

1 4 √
4
x ≤ 0.004 =⇒ |x| ≤ 4! · 0.004 ≈ 0.556.
4!

Thus the values of x in the interval [−0.556, 0.556] can be approximated to the desired accuracy.

Note that the approximations in the previous two examples can be improved by using the Alternating Series Estimation
Theorem instead.

x
Example 4: Use the remainder estimation  theorem to estimate the maximum error when approximating f (x) = e by
2

x 5 5
P2 (x) = 1 + x + on the interval − , .
2 6 6

We wish to estimate f (x) = ex with its 2nd degree Taylor polynomial (centred at zero), so first lets bound the error for a
general x:
 f (c) 3  ec 3
 (3) 
Error = |R2 (x)| = 
 x  ≤ |x| ,
3! 3!
 
5 5 5
where c lies between a = 0 and x. Now, since we are looking at only the interval − , , we have that |c| < for each x
6 6 6
in this interval. So, ec ≤ e5/6 , since ex is an increasing function.
Now we apply some guessing work. We are approximating values of ex , so it doesn’t seem right to use one of these values
in our bound (if we could get the value of e5/6 then why would we merely approximate?), so we should bound e5/6 . There
are many ways to do this, and you may use any justification you see fit. We shall use,

e5/6 < e1 < 3.

5
Thus, for |x| ≤ , the error can be bounded by
6  3
ec 3 e5/6 3 3  5 
Error ≤ |x| ≤ |x| ≤   = 0.289.
3! 3! 3! 6

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MATH 142 - The Taylor Remainder Joe Foster

Practice Problems
Estimate the maximum error when approximating the following functions with the indicated Taylor polynomial centred at
a, on the given interval.

√ 2
1. f (x) = x, 4. f (x) = sin(x), 7. f (x) = ex ,
n = 2, a = 4, n = 4, a = π/6, n = 3, a = 0,
4 ≤ x ≤ 4.2 0 ≤ x ≤ π/3 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1

2. f (x) = x−2 , 5. f (x) = sec(x), 8. f (x) = x ln(x),

n = 2, a = 1, n = 2, a = 0, n = 3, a = 1,
0.9 ≤ x ≤ 1.1 −0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.2 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 1.5

3. f (x) = x2/3 , 6. f (x) = ln(1 + 2x), 9. f (x) = x sin(x),

n = 3, a = 1, n = 2, a = 0, n = 4, a = 0,
0.8 ≤ x ≤ 1.2 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 1.5 −1 ≤ x ≤ 1

Answers to Practice Problems

0.008 1  π 5 e0.01 · 12.4816
1. 4. 7. · (0.1)4
512 120 6 24
0.004 1
2. 5. ≈ 1.085 8.
0.59049 24
56 · 0.0016 1 1
3. 6. 9.
1944 · (0.8)10/3 64 24

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