Visualization of Taylor Series Approximations and A Generalized Alternating Series Test

Ben Mathes, Kelvin Lui, Quincy Qiao, and Jackie Chen January 30, 2013

The Dreaded Complex Numbers and sin(1 + i)

Sitting down in my usual spot, I opened my notebook and looked at the blackboard. Professor Mathes: Hello, Class. Today I thought I might do something a little more thought provoking than usual. Im going to show you how to visualize and compute Imaginary numbers. Thinking to myself, how is it possible to even imagine Imaginary numbers? They dont exist! Professor Mathes: Alright, I see some doubtful faces here, but I will show you an easy way to do it. Here is the complex plane: I b a R

As you can see, the complex plane is a 2-dimensional coordinate system, much like the Cartesian Coordinate system, with the x-axis as the Real part and the y -axis as the Imaginary part. Therefore, one can imagine complex numbers as either points or vectors. Classmate A: Thats pretty cool, but how do you visualize the addition or multiplication of Complex numbers? Professor Mathes: Good question! First lets talk about Complex addition as it is pretty easy to visualize. Imagine that Complex numbers are vectors and so you simply sum the real and imaginary components 1

together to obtain the resultant vector, (a1 + b1 i) + (a2 + b2 i) = (a1 + a2 ) + (b1 + b2 )i. Pertaining to the visual approach is to think of the head-to-tail method or the Paralellogram Rule. This involves taking each individual vector and connecting them together with the origin, tail, at the end, head, of the previous vector. The summation or net vector is the vector drawn from the origin of the rst vector to the tip of the last vector.

v2 v1 + v2 v1 + v2 = v1

Classmate B: Wow! I never thought of it that way before. So is there also a cheat method for multiplication then? Professor Mathes: Multiplication is a little trickier and it involves writing the Coordinate form, a + bi, of a Complex number in its Polar Form, |r|ei . Polar form uses a circular coordinate system comprised of 2 elements, the radial distance, r, from a xed origin and an angle, the xaxis or the Real axis. Nevertheless, to transform from Coordinate to Polar, I need to introduce you to Eulers formula, cos(x) + isin(x) = eix . Euler proved this to be true when he looked at the Taylor Series approximations of sin(x) and cos(x).
x sin(x) x x 3! + 5! + ... 2 x4 cos(x) 1 x 2! + 4! + ...
3 5

eix 1 + (ix) +

(ix)2 2!

(ix)3 3!

+ ...

let a = rcos(x) and b = rsin(x) a + bi = rcos(x) + risin(x) = r(cos(x) + isin(x)) = reix a2 = r2 cos2 (x) and b2 = r2 sin2 (x) a2 + b2 = r2 (cos2 (x) + sin2 (x)) r2 = a2 + b2 r = a2 + b2 a + bi = | a2 + b2 |eix Classmate B: Okay. So now, what does this have to do with Complex Multiplication?

Professor Mathes: The Polar form just makes it trivial to multiply or compute powers! We know this from the Exponential rules that: ea eb = ea+b (ea )b = eab The crucial element to remember is that the angle, represented by x, when computing powers is merely multiplied by the power. Visually, taking the power of a complex number, with unit length, is to rotate the original vector by the product of its angle and the power. I e
i 34

= (e )3

i 4

ei 2 = (ei 4 )2 ei 4

ei = (ei 4 )4 R

Well, using the remaining time we have left I want you to evaluate sin(1+ i) visually and without a calculator, however you may use one to check your answer. I have a concern, how do I know that sin(1 + i) will even converge especially since it has an Imaginary input? Oh, I can prove a general theorem that leads to the case of sin(1 + i) converging.

Theorem 1 If an is a decreasing null sequence, for all n N: xn+1 xn , of positive numbers and u = (1 + 0i) is a point on the unit circle then n n=0 an u converges. Proof. I began by looking at the partial sums of the series 3
n n=0 u .

let s = 1 + u + u2 + ... + un us = u + u2 + u3 + ... + un + 1 us s = (u + u2 + u3 + ... + un + 1) (1 + u + u2 + ... + un ) Therefore (u 1)s = un+1 1 With the Triangle Inequality, sum of any two sides is greater than the n remaining side, it is easy to show that the partial sum of the series n=0 u is contained within a disc of radius |(u 1)s| = |un+1 1| |un+1 1| |un+1 | + | 1| |un+1 1| 2 2 s |u 1| Stuck at this point, I went to talk to Professor Math s how to proceed. Professor Mathes: Oh, you cannot really progress from here because you havent learned about convex sets and convex hulls yet. If you imagine two dots, a and b, in a space or graph, then the convex set would be the set of all the points found not he straight line between a and b, including a and b. this can be represented by s = {x|x = ta + (1 t)b : 0 t 1} y a b x

And a convex hull of a set of points, lets say P , is the smallest convex set containing P . If you expand the concept of a convex set to a larger set of points, it can be visualized as a sort of rubber band stretched around all the outside points of the set. Any point within a convex hull can be dened by a linear combination of the points within the convex set.

The convex hull is given by {(0.5, 1.1), (1.4, 0, 1), (2, 1.5), (2, 2.1), (0, 2.7)} Now you try to nd a convex hull for the series and thus continue the proof. Since I looked at the partial sum, s, I choose to write out the next set of terms until another point I call k . This is given by p1 = an un + an+1 un+1 + ... + an+k un+k I notice that for n the magnitude between an and an+1 approaches zero and that any partial sum of our value p1 is contained in the convex hull of
n+k } {an un , an (un + un+1 ), ..., an k k=0 u In addition, the linear combination of the points within the convex set give n+k p2 = s0 an un + s1 an (un + un+1 ) + ... + sk an k k=0 u Equating both partial sums p1 and p2 I prove that the partial sum p1 is contained in the convex hull.

sk = thus

an+k an+k1 a +k n an , sk1 = an an an1 an+2 n s1 = an an an s0 = a an

an+1 an

Because the scaling factor, an , is a decreasing null sequence, I know that the vectors will continue to shrink. In addition, the hypothesis that u = 1 + 0i and a point on the unit circle means that the direction of the vector will continue to rotate. Thus the latter sequence of partial sums, 5

from n + k is also contained within the convex hull due to the nature of the spiralling-in vectors. n Finally, since I proved that the series n=0 u converges to a disc and n that the tail of the series n=0 an u is contained in a convex hull I can begin to address the initial theorem. n I decide to prove that the sequencse of partial sums of the series n=0 an u forms a Cauchy sequence - given an > 0 there is an N N such that n and n + 1 > N implies |an+1 an | < - thereby convergence. In order to determine a nice value I considered the partial sums of 2 n the series n=0 u will be contained in a disc of radius |u1| and all the vectors after a large enough n fall within the convex hull {an un , an (un + un+1 ), ..., an
k n+k } k=0 u

we can generate an value based on these restrictions. Thus, I selected |an | 4|an | the radius of convergence to be |2 u1| and the diameter to be |u1|
2|an | |u1| 4|an | |u1|

< <

n+k are no This proved that any two partial sums of the series an k k=0 u more than apart from one another, and after a given point by this argument no two elements of the convex hull are more than an apart. I could prove that the tails of the partial sums would form a Cauchy sequence but only when I start with a large enough n. n+k To solve this problem I take two separate partial sums r n=0 an+k u s and k=0 an+k un+k . Because both of these are within he convex hull, I know that they are no more than a distance of apart. Since the dierence of these sums is determined by their end behaviour the origin is no longer relevant. r n+k } k=0 an+k u

and

s n+k } k=0 an+k u

which is equal to
r n+k } k=n an+k u r n+k } k=n an+k u

respectively.

Thus concluding the proof.

Calculation of sin(1 + i)

SIGH. Finally convinced, I begin to evaluate sin(1+ i). I know to start with the Polar Representation of 1 + i and the Taylor Series Approximation of sin(x). (Coordinate form) 1 + i = 2ei 4 (Polar Form)
x3 3!

Taylor Series Approximation: sin(x) x

x5 5!

+ ...

Inputting the polar form of 1 + i into sin(x) I get sin(1 + i) ( 2ei 4 ) sin(1 + i) ( 2ei 4 )
( 2ei 4 )3 3! 3 3 2 i 4 3! e

+ +

( 2ei 4 )5 + ... 5! 5 5 2 i 4 + ... 5! e

Using what I know about Vector Addition and visualization of powers of Complex numbers I draw the rst three terms and then add them all together. I I i 2e 4 R

R e
i 34

2 3!

2 5!

ei

5 4

( 2ei 4 ) R

2 3!

ei

3 4

2 5!

ei

5 4

Looking at the tip of the resultant vector, I got an approximate value of 1.3+19/30i, which is very close to the answer I obtained from my calculator.

Using my proven theorem I was content with the fact that the value of sin(1 + i) would converge to a number very similar to mine, 1.298 + 0.635i.