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Maclaurin's theorem help!!

Hi,

Use Maclaurin's theorem to obtain the first three non-zero terms in the expansion of f(x)= (e^x + e^-x)/2

I got the answer of 1+x^2/2!+x^4/4!

but apparently the answer is 2+x^2+x^4/12

please help me through which parts I've gotten wrong

Thanks!
Your answer is correct, they have forgotten to divide by 2.
Reply 2
As already said you are correct. Did you notice it is the expansion of coshx?
Reply 3
Original post by Ewanclementson
Your answer is correct, they have forgotten to divide by 2.


Thanks for your help!
Reply 4
Original post by B_9710
As already said you are correct. Did you notice it is the expansion of coshx?


no :frown: we haven't learned about cosh and other trigs
Original post by liemluji
no :frown: we haven't learned about cosh and other trigs


cosh = hyperbolic cosine, so it isn't a trig function. If you know about the unit circle definition of trig functions, then basically to get the hyperbolic trig functions you do the same sort of thing but with a hyperbola instead of a circle. You should learn about them in FP2.
Original post by HapaxOromenon3
cosh = hyperbolic cosine, so it isn't a trig function. If you know about the unit circle definition of trig functions, then basically to get the hyperbolic trig functions you do the same sort of thing but with a hyperbola instead of a circle. You should learn about them in FP2.


Depends on the exam board, it's covered in FP3 for Edexcel.

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