[Math] Taylor expansion of $\arccos(1-x)$ around $x=0$ to two terms

taylor expansion

Doing a normal Taylor expansion of $\arccos(1-x)$ around $x=0$ to two terms by taking derivatives doesn't work because of division by zero.

I've put this into wolfram alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=taylor+series+arccos%281-x%29. It's nice but I need to show that I can do it myself. This isn't an analysis class so I have never seen square roots in a series expansion before.

I found this in my search: Some approximations for $\arccos(1/(1+x))$ but I need the expansion to two terms.

Best Answer

Let $y=f(x)=\arccos(1-x)$. Then $$1-x=\cos y=1-\frac{y^2}2+\frac{y^4}{24}+O(y^6),$$ so $$x=\frac{y^2}2-\frac{y^4}{24}+O(y^6).$$ Now clearly there is no actual Taylor series for $y$ about $x=0$ because $f'(0)$ does not exist. However, a generalized power series solution can be written down, known variously as the Frobenius method or the asymptotic expansion of $y=f(x)$ near $x=0$. Solving this equation formally:

$$2x=y^2\left(1-\frac{y^2}{12}+O(y^4)\right)\Rightarrow y=\sqrt{2x}\left(1-\frac{y^2}{12}+O(y^4)\right)^{-1/2}$$

Since $0<y\ll1$, $\frac{y^2}{12}\ll1$ so that we can use the binomial theorem $(1+x)^p=1+px+\cdots$ to get the next-leading order term:

$$y=\sqrt{2x}+\sqrt{2x}\frac{y^2}{24}+O(y^4)=\sqrt{2x}+\frac{\sqrt{2x}}{24}\left(\sqrt{2x}+\frac{\sqrt{2x}}{24}y^2+O(y^4)\right)^2+O(y^4)$$ $$=\sqrt{2x}+\frac{(2x)^{3/2}}{24}\left(1+\frac{1}{12}y^2+O(y^4)\right)+O(y^4)=\sqrt{2x}+\frac{(2x)^{3/2}}{24}+\frac{(2x)^{3/2}}{24\cdot 12}y^2+O(x^{3/2}y^4)+O(y^4)$$

Now, since $y=O(\sqrt x)$ (which follows from the leading order term), we can simplify all that to get $$y=\sqrt{2x}+\frac{(2x)^{3/2}}{24}+O(x^2).$$