Exercise 83Calculus › Single-variable calculus › Differentiation › Taylor expansionsL1Added 3 Nov 2026
How many terms are needed to compute sin 1?
#Taylor-Lagrange#error bound#numerical computation
Statement
Find the smallest degree for which the Taylor polynomial of at approximates with an error below , and compute the approximation.
Hint
The Lagrange remainder at order is bounded by since all derivatives of are bounded by .
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Solution
Error bound. .
- : not enough for .
- : not enough for (and anyway).
- ✓ for .
Approximation.
Check. so the error is about , far better than the guaranteed bound.
Remark. The guaranteed bound is pessimistic by a factor of about here, because it uses at order , while and the order- remainder has a factor , the true size of the error.