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Second-order Taylor series approximation (in orange) of a function f (x,y) = e x ln(1 + y) around the origin. In order to compute a second-order Taylor series expansion around point (a, b) = (0, 0) of the function (,) = (+), one first computes all the necessary partial derivatives:
In probability theory, it is possible to approximate the moments of a function f of a random variable X using Taylor expansions, provided that f is sufficiently differentiable and that the moments of X are finite. A simulation-based alternative to this approximation is the application of Monte Carlo simulations.
First-order approximation is the term scientists use for a slightly better answer. [3] Some simplifying assumptions are made, and when a number is needed, an answer with only one significant figure is often given ("the town has 4 × 10 3, or four thousand, residents"). In the case of a first-order approximation, at least one number given is exact.
For the second-order approximations of the third central moment as well as for the derivation of all higher-order approximations see Appendix D of Ref. [3] Taking into account the quadratic terms of the Taylor series and the third moments of the input variables is referred to as second-order third-moment method. [4]
The linear approximation of a function is the first order Taylor expansion around the point of interest. In the study of dynamical systems , linearization is a method for assessing the local stability of an equilibrium point of a system of nonlinear differential equations or discrete dynamical systems . [ 1 ]
In calculus, Taylor's theorem gives an approximation of a -times differentiable function around a given point by a polynomial of degree , called the -th-order Taylor polynomial. For a smooth function , the Taylor polynomial is the truncation at the order k {\textstyle k} of the Taylor series of the function.
First-order means that only the first derivative of y appears in the equation, and higher derivatives are absent. Without loss of generality to higher-order systems, we restrict ourselves to first-order differential equations, because a higher-order ODE can be converted into a larger system of first-order equations by introducing extra variables.
Gaussian optics is a technique in geometrical optics that describes the behaviour of light rays in optical systems by using the paraxial approximation, in which only rays which make small angles with the optical axis of the system are considered. [2] In this approximation, trigonometric functions can be expressed as linear functions of the angles.