approximate cos(1/10) with three correct decimals around origin with Taylor polynomial Using the Maclaurin with two derivatives I get the following. Substituting x = 1/10 gives approx 0.9800, but the answers say it should be 0.995.


A Maclaurin series is a Taylor series expansion of a function about $0$,
$$f(x)=f(0)+f'(0)\cdot x+\frac{f''(0)}{2!}\cdot x^2+\frac{f'''(0)}{3!}\cdot x^3+\frac{f''''(0)}{4!}\cdot x^4+\dots\tag1$$
For $f(x)=\cos(x)$, we get:
$$\cos(x)=1+0-\frac{x^2}{2}+0+\frac{x^4}{24}+\dots=1-\frac{x^2}{2}+\frac{x^4}{24}+\dots\tag2$$
So, when $x=\frac{1}{10}$, we get:
$$\cos\left(\frac{1}{10}\right)=1-\frac{\left(\frac{1}{10}\right)^2}{2}+\frac{\left(\frac{1}{10}\right)^4}{24}+\dots=\frac{238801}{240000}+\dots\tag3$$
And:
$$\frac{238801}{240000}\approx0.995004166666\tag4$$

Note: the error term is given by the terms we did not put into our approximation. The more terms you pick the more accurate it will become.

