Calculating Taylor Series for $\frac{1}{|R-r|}$ with R>>r

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
1 reply · 2K views
industrygiant
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
I can't work out how to calculate the Taylor series for

[tex]\frac{1}{|R-r|}[/tex]

when R>>r, but they are both vectors. We were told to expand in r/R but I did the step below and I'm not sure where to go from there

I got to

[tex]\frac{1}{R \sqrt{1 - (2R.r)/R^2 + (r^2)/(R^2)}}[/tex]

I also know the result in first order is

[tex]\frac{1}{R} + \frac{R.r}{R^3}[/tex]
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Simplify and rewrite your expression as
[tex] \frac{1}{R \sqrt{1 - 2r/R + (r/R)^2}} [/tex]

Now define a (small) quantity ε =r/R in terms of which you have

[tex] \frac{1}{R \sqrt{1 - 2r/R + (r/R)^2}} =\frac{1}{R}f(\epsilon)[/tex]

Where
[tex]f(\epsilon)=(1-2\epsilon+\epsilon^2)^{-1/2}[/tex]

Expand f(ε) in Taylor series the usual way, then replace ε with r/R.