Taylor series Mostly conceptual

[trajan22]

I was just curious why when doing a taylor series like xe^(-x^3) we must first find the series of e^x then basically work it from there, why can't we instead do it directly by taking the derivatives of xe^(-x^3). But doing it that way doesn't give a working taylor series why is this so?

 

[Dick]

You can do it either way. But the derivatives of xe^(-x^3) get complicated pretty fast. So you may just be doing it wrong. I probably would. It's just a question of choosing the easiest method.

 

[trajan22]

Oh ok I see. I was looking at the wrong answer, I think. Thanks though