Is There a Trick to Simplify Taylor Series Expansion?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on simplifying the Taylor series expansion for the function \(\log(\sec x + \tan x)\). Participants suggest using known series expansions for \(\sin x\), \(\cos x\), and \(\log(1+x)\) to derive terms up to \(O(x^5)\). A key insight is that while differentiation can be cumbersome, leveraging series multiplication and substitution can yield results with less effort. The final goal is to express \(\log(\sec x + \tan x)\) accurately with all relevant series terms.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Taylor series expansions
  • Familiarity with trigonometric functions and their series: \(\sin x\) and \(\cos x\)
  • Knowledge of logarithmic series: \(\log(1+x)\)
  • Proficiency in calculus, particularly differentiation and the chain rule
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the derivation of Taylor series for \(\sec x\) and \(\tan x\)
  • Learn how to multiply series and retain terms for simplification
  • Explore the application of the chain rule in calculus for logarithmic functions
  • Investigate advanced techniques for handling higher-order derivatives in series expansions
USEFUL FOR

Mathematicians, physics students, and anyone involved in calculus or series analysis will benefit from this discussion, particularly those looking to simplify complex series expansions.

silverfury
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Homework Statement
I have tried differentiating many times in order to find a simpler diffrential eq to solve it further but didn’t have any luck there. Pls help
Relevant Equations
To prove:
ln(sec x + tan x) = x + x^3/6 + x^5/24 ......
I tried diffrentiating upto certain higher orders but didn’t find any way.. is there a trick or a transformation involved to make this task less hectic? Pls help
 
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I have only the idea of using three series and calculate the first terms.
We have ##\log(\sec x +\tan x)= \log (1+\sin x)-\log(1+(\cos x -1))## and the series
\begin{align*}
\sin x &= x - \dfrac{x^3}{3!} + \dfrac{x^5}{5!} - \dfrac{x^7}{7!} \pm \ldots\\
\cos x -1 &= - \dfrac{x^2}{2!} + \dfrac{x^4}{4!} -\dfrac{x^6}{6!} \pm \ldots \\
\log (1+x)&= x -\dfrac{x^2}{2}+\dfrac{x^3}{3}-\dfrac{x^4}{4} \pm \ldots
\end{align*}
This works only for a few series elements but seems to be less work than differentiating. However, if you need the correct formula with all series members, things are really ugly.
 
silverfury said:
Problem Statement: I have tried differentiating many times in order to find a simpler diffrential eq to solve it further but didn’t have any luck there. Pls help
Relevant Equations: To prove:
ln(sec x + tan x) = x + x^3/6 + x^5/24 ...

I tried diffrentiating upto certain higher orders but didn’t find any way.. is there a trick or a transformation involved to make this task less hectic? Pls help

You can say that 1 + \sin x = 1 + x - \tfrac16x^3 + \tfrac1{120}x^5 + O(x^7)\\<br /> \sec x = 1 + \tfrac12 x^2 + \tfrac5{24}x^4 + O(x^6) \\<br /> \log(1 + x) = x - \tfrac12x^2 + \tfrac13 x^3 - \tfrac14 x^4 + \tfrac15x^5 + O(x^6). Now multiply \sec x by 1 + \sin x retaining all terms up to and including O(x^5). The constant term is 1, so you can drop this and substitute the remaining terms directly into the log series and expand, retaining only terms up to and including O(x^5).

You can see that getting higher order terms out of this involves a lot of algebra, so differentiation might actually be easier.
 
Suppose ##y=ln(f(x))##

Chain rule, ##y'=1f(x)⋅f'(x)##
y'=1sec(x)+tan(x)⋅(sec(x)+tan(x))'
y'=1sec(x)+tan(x)⋅(sec(x)tan(x)+sec^2(x))
y'=1sec(x)+tan(x)⋅sec(x)(sec(x)+tan(x))
y'=sec(x)

Is this any help?


Wrong. Thanks @SammyS
 
Last edited:
I think you have forgotten the division signs: ##\dfrac{1}{f(x)}## and ##\dfrac{1}{\sec x +\tan x}.##
 
jim mcnamara said:
Suppose ##y=ln(f(x))##

Chain rule, ##y'=1f(x)⋅f'(x)##
$$y'=1sec(x)+tan(x)⋅(sec(x)+tan(x))'$$
$$y'=1sec(x)+tan(x)⋅(sec(x)tan(x)+sec^2(x))$$
$$y'=1sec(x)+tan(x)⋅sec(x)(sec(x)+tan(x))$$
$$y'=sec(x)$$

Is this any help?
To be more explicit regarding what @fresh_42 states in the previous post, the above should be:
Chain rule, ##y'=\dfrac{1}{f(x)}\cdot f'(x)##

##y'=\dfrac{1} {\sec(x)+\tan(x)}\cdot \dfrac{d}{dx}(\sec(x)+\tan(x))##​
...
##y'=\sec(x) ##​
 
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Thanks for the correction.
 

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