How did this expansion take place?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the Taylor expansion of the exponential function e^{x} and the process of splitting its series into even and odd terms. Participants explore the validity of this manipulation and the conditions under which it can be applied, touching on concepts of convergence.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant presents the Taylor expansion of e^{x} as a series and questions how it can be split into even and odd terms.
  • Another participant explains that splitting the series into even and odd terms includes all terms from the original series, providing examples for clarification.
  • A later reply emphasizes the caution needed when splitting infinite series, noting that such manipulations are only guaranteed to be valid for absolutely convergent series.
  • Participants acknowledge the importance of understanding convergence when working with power series and Taylor series.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the process of splitting the series into even and odd terms, but there is a recognition of the need for caution regarding convergence, indicating an unresolved aspect of the discussion about the conditions under which such manipulations are valid.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention that while the manipulation works for absolutely convergent series, it may not hold for conditionally convergent series, especially at the boundary of the radius of convergence.

M. next
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Ok suppose we have e[itex]^{x}[/itex], by Taylor expansion it becomes [itex]\sum[/itex] x[itex]^{n}[/itex]/n!
Then it was set equal to: [itex]\sum[/itex] x [itex]^{2n}[/itex]/2n! + [itex]\sum[/itex] x [itex]^{2n+1}[/itex]/(2n+1)!

Note: summation in all was from zero to infinity..
How did this take place??
Thanks
 
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All it's doing is splitting the series into its even and odd terms. Think about it: for n = 0, the first expression gives you x0/0! and the second one gives you x1/1!

For n=1, the first expression gives you x2/2! And the second expression gives you x3/3!

Et cetera...

Between the two new series, all the terms from the original Taylor series are included.
 
Thank you a lot for this reply, but please bear with me and explain this sentence, " Between the two new series, all the terms from the original Taylor series are included."
How come?
 
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Because the first series has all the even terms from the original series, and the second one had all the odd terms from the original series.

I wrote out the first few terms for you already, hoping to illustrate this. TRY IT for yourself. Write out a few more terms.
 
Yes, you did. Thank you a lot :)!
 
By the way, beware that in general you cannot split an infinite series into its even and odd terms like that, without potentially changing the answer. It is only guaranteed to work if the series is absolutely convergent. Therefore some justification is needed before making manipulations like that. Fortunately, all power series (including Taylor series) are absolutely convergent within the interior of their radius of convergence. But convergence may only be conditional for points at the radius itself.
 
Thank you for the information. I will be careful when dealing with those.
 

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