Determine the maximum error bound on the given interval

taylor expansionupper-lower-bounds

Find the $5th$ degree Maclaurin polynomial of $f(x) = \text{cos}x$. Then, derive an upper bound for max$(-\frac{1}{2} \leq x \leq \frac{1}{2}) \mid f(x)-\text{P}_5(x)\mid$.

I found $\text{P}_5(x) = 1-\frac{x^2}{2}+\frac{x^4}{24}$. So,

$\mid f(x)-\text{P}_5(x)\mid = \mid\text{cos}x – (1-\frac{x^2}{2}+\frac{x^4}{24})\mid$.

The RHS attains its maximum value on this interval at $x = .5$. Plugging this in yields,

$\mid\text{cos}(.5) – (1-\frac{.5^2}{2}+\frac{.5^4}{24})\mid = 2.1\times 10^{-5}$. Hence the maximum upper bound is $2.1 \times 10^{-5}$.

Is this process correct?

Best Answer

No. The error is not bounded above by zero. The origin is not a local or global maximum for the error - it's the minimum instead. There's an absolute value in that definition, after all. [Now corrected]

Your polynomial is also incorrect - that's the wrong $x^4$ term. [Now corrected]

I suspect you're intended to use Taylor's theorem here. The theorem comes with estimates for the error of the series approximation. What does that error estimate from the theorem say in this case?