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For example, many asymptotic expansions are derived from the formula, and Faulhaber's formula for the sum of powers is an immediate consequence. The formula was discovered independently by Leonhard Euler and Colin Maclaurin around 1735. Euler needed it to compute slowly converging infinite series while Maclaurin used it to calculate integrals.
It was not until 1715 that a general method for constructing these series for all functions for which they exist was finally published by Brook Taylor, [8] after whom the series are now named. The Maclaurin series was named after Colin Maclaurin, a Scottish mathematician, who published a special case of the Taylor result in the mid-18th century.
A Laurent series is a generalization of the Taylor series, allowing terms with negative exponents; it takes the form = and converges in an annulus. [6] In particular, a Laurent series can be used to examine the behavior of a complex function near a singularity by considering the series expansion on an annulus centered at the singularity.
In probability and statistics, the logarithmic distribution (also known as the logarithmic series distribution or the log-series distribution) is a discrete probability distribution derived from the Maclaurin series expansion = + + +.
For example, many summation methods are used in mathematics to assign numerical values even to a divergent series. In particular, the methods of zeta function regularization and Ramanujan summation assign the series a value of − + 1 / 12 , which is expressed by a famous formula: [ 2 ]
Typical examples of analytic functions are The following elementary functions: All polynomials: if a polynomial has degree n, any terms of degree larger than n in its Taylor series expansion must immediately vanish to 0, and so this series will be trivially convergent. Furthermore, every polynomial is its own Maclaurin series.
Two cases arise: The first case is theoretical: when you know all the coefficients then you take certain limits and find the precise radius of convergence.; The second case is practical: when you construct a power series solution of a difficult problem you typically will only know a finite number of terms in a power series, anywhere from a couple of terms to a hundred terms.
Maclaurin attributed the series to Brook Taylor, though the series was known before to Newton and Gregory, and in special cases to Madhava of Sangamagrama in fourteenth century India. [6] Nevertheless, Maclaurin received credit for his use of the series, and the Taylor series expanded around 0 is sometimes known as the Maclaurin series. [7]