Two versions of Maclaurin series for $\arcsin(x)$

power seriestaylor expansion

In comparing the calculus textbook by Soo T. Tan, and https://mathworld.wolfram.com/MaclaurinSeries.html, there are different entries for the Maclaurin series for inverse sine.

From the book, it seems that it is $$\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(2n)!}{(2^n n!)^2 (2n+1)}x^{2n+1}$$ but on the website it is $$\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{\Gamma(n+\frac{1}{2})}{\sqrt{\pi}(2n+1)n!}x^{2n+1}$$

My hunch is that the website's answer applies to a more general $x$-value, but I'm not sure why the difference (or if they're actually two ways of showing the same thing?)

A follow-up question would be, omitting the hyperbolic functions, does this apply to any of the other series that are listed? Like is there an simpler series for $\tan x$ (which might not actually need Bernoulli numbers?)

Best Answer

but on the website it is $$\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{\Gamma(n+\frac{1}{2})}{\sqrt{\pi}(2n+1)n!}x^{2n+1}$$

Use $\Gamma(z)=(z-1)\Gamma(z-1)$, and $\Gamma(1/2)=\sqrt\pi$, we get

$$\Gamma(n+\frac{1}{2})=(n-\frac{1}2)\cdots\frac{3}2\cdot\frac{1}2\cdot\sqrt\pi=\frac{(2n-1)!!}{2^n}\sqrt\pi=\frac{(2n)!}{(2n)!!\cdot2^n}\sqrt\pi$$

Note that $(2n)!!=2^n n!$, we get

$$\begin{align}\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{\Gamma(n+\frac{1}{2})}{\sqrt{\pi}(2n+1)n!}x^{2n+1}&=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(2n)!}{2^n n!\cdot2^n}\sqrt\pi\cdot\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi}(2n+1)n!}x^{2n+1}\\ \\ &=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(2n)!}{(2^n n!)^2 (2n+1)}x^{2n+1}\end{align}$$

So they are equivalent.