Taylor expansion/approximation

linear algebranumerical methodstaylor expansion

I was given

$f(x) = x^2 \sqrt{1-x^2}$

I was first asked to get the chebyshev expansion between $[-1,1]$ i did that part.

Now i have to get the taylor expansion i am not sure how to do this because taylor expansion is at one point like

$x = x_a$

and then you can use the standard formula.

But now that i have been given a range $[-1,1]$ what would i do? i could potentially just use $-1$ but that would be only that point…

I am a bit confused.

Best Answer

Apply the Taylor expansion of $\sqrt{1-a}$ for $a<1$,

$$\sqrt{1-a}=1-\frac a2 - \frac {a^2}{8} - \frac {a^3}{16} ...$$

and let $a=x^2$,

$$\sqrt{1-x^2}=1-\frac {x^2}{2} - \frac {x^4}{8} - \frac {x^6}{16} ...$$

Then,

$$f(x) = x^2 \sqrt{1-x^2} = x^2-\frac {x^4}{2} - \frac {x^6}{8} - \frac {x^8}{16} ...$$