Taylor Series: find tirst three non-zero terms for sec(x)

flakine

Junior Member
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Aug 24, 2005
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Use the definition of the Taylor series (centered on c) to find the first three non-zero terms of the Taylor series for:

. . .f(x) = sec x, c = 0

Help!
 
Start by taking consecutive derivatives of \(\displaystyle sec(x)\); \(\displaystyle f'(x), f''(x), f'''(x), ...., f^{n}(x)\)

Using c=0 will give you the MacLaurin series.

\(\displaystyle \L\\\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{f^{k}(0)}{k!}x^{k}=f(0)+f'(0)x+\frac{f''(0)}{2!}x^{2}+............+\frac{f^{k}(0)}{k!}x^{k}+......\)

I'll do a few.

\(\displaystyle sec(0)=1\)

\(\displaystyle f'(0)=sec(x)tan(x)=sec(0)tan(0)=0\)

\(\displaystyle f''(0)=sec^{3}(x)+tan^{2}(x)sec(x)=sec^{3}(0)+tan^{2}(0)sec(0)=1\)

Odd derivatives will give 0. It looks like you'll need the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th derivatives.

Use the formula with your derivative results.
 
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