Series involving trig functions

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a series involving trigonometric functions and their Taylor series expansions. Participants are exploring various parts of the problem, including specific calculations and the application of series definitions.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Mathematical reasoning, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss deriving a Taylor series centered at a specific point and the accuracy of their calculations. There are mentions of using Excel for summation and confusion regarding the input values. Some participants are attempting to apply the Maclaurin series definition and integrate term by term.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants sharing their attempts and results. Some guidance has been offered regarding the use of series definitions and integration techniques. There is a mix of interpretations and approaches being explored, particularly in relation to specific parts of the problem.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working with specific parts of the homework, including parts II, III, and IV, and are addressing issues related to accuracy and variable substitution. There is an acknowledgment of potential confusion regarding the use of degrees versus radians in calculations.

Noober
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Homework Statement


http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6784/dsc07215xt5.jpg
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/9435/dsc07216aa0.jpg

Homework Equations


None.

The Attempt at a Solution


Answers for part I are circled, here's parts II-IV.
http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/8642/dsc07217uq2.jpg
http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/6999/dsc07218qf2.jpg

Any help would be appreciated. This is a very important homework, as you can tell by the title.

If the pics are too small, download them and zoom in, or use the FF extension ImageZoom.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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2) Derive a taylor series centered at x= pi/3 and just keep summing terms. You will know you have 4 places accuracy when after summing a certain number of terms for 4 places are still the same, or also when the terms become smaller than 0.0001.

3) You have the right working and series, but it seems you subbed in x=2 instead of x= 0.2.
 
2. I did. I made an Excel thing to find the sums, and it converged to -0.617209760262333. The actual value of cos(63º) is 0.4539905. I can't figure out what's wrong...
Edit: I was doing it in degrees. I got it now.

3. Ah, thanks.

Can anyone help me with Part II B and Part IV?
 
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IV) Let's do a and b first.

A) Just use the definition of a Maclaurin series, not hard to sub in.

B) Using that series for f(x), change the variable to t, integrate term by term.
 
I did that (see above pics), and it looks right. But part C doesn't work. If I set -2ak=1, and 2a²k/3=1, a comes out to be -1/3 and k=3/2. That doesn't work for the third term...
 
Try this approach:

[itex]f(x)=6e^{-x/3}, f'(x)=-2e^{-x/3}[/itex]

[tex]kf'(ax) = -2k \cdot e^{-ax/3}[/tex]

Now for the LHS, you should recognise that's the taylor series for e^x.

Now you just have to solve [itex]e^x = -2k \cdot e^{-ax/3}[/tex][/itex]
 
Ok, with that, I got k=-1/2, and a=-3. Right...?
 
Aww come on mate you don't need to be spoon fed like this :P Substituting those into the RHS of what I left you to solve, you can see that it is correct = ] but next time i want something more like:

" I got k=-1/2 and a=-3 which works out, yay!"
 
Ok, thanks for the help everyone. Well, actually, just Gib Z, but whatever :).
 

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