Taylor Polynomials and Taylor Series

Introduction:

The applet -- instructions:

This applet finds the Maclaurin (a=0) and/or the Taylor polynomial for a given function F(x) up to degree ten. Note that certain functions might take some time to compute the Taylor polynomial of a high degree (up to degree 4 is safe).

• Play first with the given function "sin(x)". Change the values of "a", degree of polynomial "n", radius "r", and y-scale.
• Choose a new function and start over!! Safe trials: cos(x), ln(x), 1/x, exp(x), 1/(1-x).
• This Applet uses the Eval class written by Patrik Lundin that is available in the following site: lundin.SymbolicMath class library.
• To calculate the derivatives, I use the Interpreter for symbolic manipulation of mathematical expressions by Jens- Uwe Dolinsky.