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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 nn for which the Taylor polynomial TnT_n of sin⁡\sin at 00 approximates sin⁡1\sin1 with an error below 10−610^{-6}, and compute the approximation.

Hint

The Lagrange remainder at order nn is bounded by 1(n+1)!\frac1{(n+1)!} since all derivatives of sin⁡\sin are bounded by 11.

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Solution

Error bound. ∣sin⁡1−Tn(1)∣≤1(n+1)!|\sin1-T_n(1)|\le\dfrac1{(n+1)!}.
- 18!=2.5⋅10−5\frac1{8!}=2.5\cdot10^{-5}: not enough for n=7n=7.
- 19!=2.8⋅10−6\frac1{9!}=2.8\cdot10^{-6}: not enough for n=8n=8 (and T8=T7T_8=T_7 anyway).
- 110!=2.8⋅10−7<10−6\frac1{10!}=2.8\cdot10^{-7}<10^{-6} ✓ for n=9n=9.

Approximation.
T9(1)=1−16+1120−15040+1362 880=0.8414710…T_9(1)=1-\frac16+\frac1{120}-\frac1{5040}+\frac1{362\,880}=0.8414710\ldots

Check. sin⁡1=0.8414709848…\sin1=0.8414709848\ldots so the error is about 2.5⋅10−82.5\cdot10^{-8}, far better than the guaranteed bound.

Remark. The guaranteed bound is pessimistic by a factor of about 1010 here, because it uses ∣cos⁡c∣≤1|\cos c|\le1 at order 99, while T9=T10T_9=T_{10} and the order-1010 remainder has a factor 111!=2.5⋅10−8\frac1{11!}=2.5\cdot10^{-8}, the true size of the error.