Worked solution
Recover an inverse-cosine tangent from its Maclaurin coefficients
Given and , show . By further differentiation find the Maclaurin series for through in exact form. marks
Deduce the tangent to at . marks
[2008/NJC/Promo/7]
CJC · Review problems · Question 8
Answer
; tangent .
Square the radical and differentiate
gives , hence . The square root is present in the original printed question, though absent from its native extraction.
How did this part go?
Differentiate again and evaluate the branch at zero
A further derivative gives . The branch condition gives , and . Thus
How did this part go?
Use the exact constant and linear terms for the tangent
The tangent has point and slope , so , or . This is the exact tangent, not a quadratic approximation to it.
How did this part go?
Common mistakes
Dropping the square root changes the initial value and every derivative.