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Taylor Series

Definition

A Taylor series is an expansion of a function into an infinite sum of terms, where each term represents the contribution from different derivatives of the function at a specific point.

Analogy

Think of baking cookies from scratch. The Taylor series is like breaking down the recipe into individual ingredients and their quantities, allowing you to recreate the entire batch by adding up these separate components.

Related terms

Power Series: A special type of Taylor series where each term involves powers (exponents) of x.

Radius of Convergence: The distance from the center point at which a power series converges to its original function.

Remainder Estimation Theorem: A theorem used to estimate how closely an approximation using only some terms in a Taylor series matches the actual function.

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AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.