Identify a closed-form function from its Taylor series
The question asks the student to recognize a Taylor series (often geometric) as a known function and express f or f' in closed form, possibly then recovering the original function by integration.
The Maclaurin series for the function $f$ is given by $f ( x ) = \sum _ { n = 0 } ^ { \infty } \left( - \frac { x } { 4 } \right) ^ { n }$. What is the value of $f ( 3 )$ ? (A) - 3 (B) $- \frac { 3 } { 7 }$ (C) $\frac { 4 } { 7 }$ (D) $\frac { 13 } { 16 }$ (E) 4
We consider the functions $\varphi : x \mapsto \frac { 1 } { \left( 1 - x ^ { 2 } \right) ^ { 2 } }$ and $\psi : x \mapsto \frac { 1 } { ( 1 + x ) ^ { 2 } ( 1 - x ) }$. Determine sequences $\left( u _ { n } \right) _ { n \in \mathbb { N } }$ and $\left( v _ { n } \right) _ { n \in \mathbb { N } }$ such that, for all $x \in ] - 1,1 [$, $$\varphi ( x ) = \sum _ { n = 0 } ^ { + \infty } u _ { n } x ^ { n } \quad \text { and } \quad \psi ( x ) = \sum _ { n = 0 } ^ { + \infty } v _ { n } x ^ { n } .$$ We will express explicitly as a function of $n$, according to the parity of $n$, the reals $u _ { n }$ and $v _ { n }$.