series

kreil

[tex] e^{i\pi}=-1 [/tex]

I was wondering how on earth this was possible. I know that:

[tex]
e^z = 1 + z + \frac{z^2}{2!} + \frac{z^3}{3!}+...+\frac{z^n}{n!}
[/tex]

So

[tex]
e^{i\pi}=1+i\pi+\frac{-\pi^2}{2!}+\frac{-\pi^3i}{3!}+\frac{\pi^4}{4!}...
[/tex]

I was wondering if there is any way to solve this other than punching out actual numbers and seeing about where they converge to?

CTS

e^ix = cos x + i sin x

kreil

thanks, I didn't know about that equation

mathman

If you look at the power series for cos(x), sin(x) and e^ix, the relationship will be obvious.