Exercise 1047Calculus › Single-variable calculus › Differentiation › Taylor expansionsL2Added 3 Nov 2026
Approximating x by a combination of sines
#undetermined coefficients#Taylor expansion#Richardson extrapolation
Statement
Find real numbers such that as , and identify the order of the error.
Hint
Expand and up to order and cancel the coefficients of and .
Show solutionHide solution
Solution
Expansions.
Conditions. The coefficient of must be and the coefficient of must vanish:
So , i.e. and .
Error term. The coefficient of is :
Remark. This is Richardson extrapolation: two approximations with the same structure of error are combined to cancel the leading error term. It is the idea behind many numerical methods (Romberg integration, for instance).