Sequence of polynomials that converges to $|x|$ over $[-1,1]$ Suppose I want to construct a sequence of polynomials that converges to $|x|$ pointwise. 
I am pretty good on proving that sequences of functions converge to things pointwise, but I am having trouble actually coming up with a sequence of polynomials that converges to $|x|$. Someone told me to try using the Taylor series expansion of $(1−x)^{1/2}$, but that just confused me, since I am very rusty on Taylor series. Would anyone mind explaining this to me a little?
Thanks!!

You can use Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind.
$$ P_{2n}(x)=\frac{2}{\pi}-\sum_{j=1}^{n}\frac{4(-1)^j}{\pi(4j^2-1)}T_{2j}(x)$$
converges uniformly to $|x|$ over the compact set $[-1,1]$, in virtue of the Fourier-Chebyshev series (the Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are a complete base of orthonormal functions wrt the scalar product $<f,g>=\int_{-1}^{1}\frac{f(x)g(x)dx}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}$).
This choice is quite good since:
$$ \sup_{x\in(-1,1)}||x|-P_{2n}(x)|=O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right).$$
See also: Weierstrass approximation Theorem.
