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Thursday, September 23, 2021

09-23-2021-0601 - Taylor series & Four Vertex Theorem

In mathematics, the Taylor series of a function is an infinite sum of terms that are expressed in terms of the function's derivatives at a single point. For most common functions, the function and the sum of its Taylor series are equal near this point. Taylor's series are named after Brook Taylor, who introduced them in 1715.

If zero is the point where the derivatives are considered, a Taylor series is also called a Maclaurin series, after Colin Maclaurin, who made extensive use of this special case of Taylor series in the 18th century.

The partial sum formed by the first n + 1 terms of a Taylor series is a polynomial of degree n that is called the nth Taylor polynomial of the function. Taylor polynomials are approximations of a function, which become generally better as n increases. Taylor's theorem gives quantitative estimates on the error introduced by the use of such approximations. If the Taylor series of a function is convergent, its sum is the limit of the infinite sequenceof the Taylor polynomials. A function may differ from the sum of its Taylor series, even if its Taylor series is convergent. A function is analytic at a point x if it is equal to the sum of its Taylor series in some open interval (or open disk in the complex plane) containing x. This implies that the function is analytic at every point of the interval (or disk).

As the degree of the Taylor polynomial rises, it approaches the correct function. This image shows sin x and its Taylor approximations by polynomials of degree 1357911, and 13 at x = 0.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series

The four-vertex theorem of geometry states that the curvature function of a simple, closed, smooth plane curve has at least four local extrema (specifically, at least two local maxima and at least two local minima). The name of the theorem derives from the convention of calling an extreme point of the curvature function a vertex. This theorem has many generalizations, including a version for space curves where a vertex is defined as a point of vanishing torsion.

An ellipse (red) and its evolute(blue), showing the four vertices of the curve, each vertex corresponding to a cusp on the evolute.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-vertex_theorem

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