Skip to content

Comment on Understanding the most beautiful equation in Mathematicsparent

Comments

In advanced mathematics it's common to define cos and sin by these series (and pi is defined as the smallest strictly positive x with sin x = 0). (Of course that just reduces the question to "why do certain geometrical identities match this sin function")

or you could use MacLaurin polynomial series (Taylor series at zero)

I'm probably missing something, but that is the Taylor series at 0.

Yeah I mean to say you can derive the sin and cosine as abstract functions from their geometrical properties, get the form of their derivatives, and then derive their Taylor series, instead of defining them as infinite series, and then showing that the function looks like their geometric equivalents.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.