Welcome to calculus.

I'm Professor Ghrist.

We're about to begin lecture two on the
exponential.
In this lesson, we'll introduce the
principle hero of our story: the
exponential function, and dive deeper
into its definition and the implications
thereof.
We'll also see how Euler's formula
entwines the exponential function with
our principle supporting actors, the
trigonometric functions.
We begin this lecture, and indeed the
course with the question, what is e to
the x, the exponential function.
Well, of course it's a function.
Hence we can plot the graph of this
function and consider what the output e
to the x looks like for various inputs x.
But how do we compute some of these
outputs?
Let's say for an irrational input, like
pi.
How would we even make sense of
exponentiating an imaginary or a complex
number.
Is it possible to give meaning or sense
to exponentiating an operator like the
derivative, or more unusual objects that
you may have seen such as matrices.
Well, we won't answer all of those
questions today, but let's recall a few
facts about the exponential function.
Certain algebraic properties are manifest
and well known to us.
From your prior exposure to calculus, you
should have seen some differential and
integral properties.
E to the X is that remarkable function
that is its own derivative.
And thus, it is its own integral, up to
the constant of integration.
There's one other fact that we need to
move forward, and that is Euler's formula
that tells us something about
exponentiating a complex input, namely e
to the ix is cosine of x plus i times
sine of x.
None of these properties however, tell us
what e to the x really means.
We therefore move to the definition for
the purposes of this course.
This is what e to the x is and means.
We define e to the x as 1 plus x, plus
one half x squared, plus one sixth x
cubed, plus one 24th x to the fourth,
plus one over 120 times x to the fifth
and this keeps on going and going.

Where do these numbers come from?

What do they mean?
Well, another way to write this is using
factorial notation.
That e to the x is 1 + x + x squared over
2 factorial + x cubed over 3 factorial,
etcetera.
All the way down the line, one never
stops this sum; keeps going forever and
ever.
Now recall that k factorial for a
positive integer k is defined to be, k
times k minus 1 times k minus 2, and all
the way down until you get to 3 times 2
times 1.
That gives the sequence of numbers that
we saw at the beginning.
Recall also that by convention and for
very good reasons, 0 factorial is defined
to be 1.
Thus we could write our definition for e
to the x using summation notation.
As the sum k goes from 0 to infinity of x
to the k divided by k factorial.
This is a formula that you are going to
want to memorize as we will be using it
throughout this course.
Well, definitions may be nice, but what
do we do with it?
How do we deal with this statement?
How do we even make sense of this
infinite sum.
Well, certainly for specific values of x,
say x equal to 1, we can try to compute
what e to the one would be, as plus one
plus one half plus one sixth plus one
24th, etcetera.
It seems as though this converges to the
familiar decimal expansion for e that we
know.
In general, the principle that you should
follow in trying to understand statements
such as the definition of e to the x is
to pretend that this is a long
polynomial; a polynomial of unbounded
degree.
Now, polynomials are wonderful objects to
work with, very simple from the point of
view of differential and integral
calculus.
Recall that when it comes to
differentiation, the derivative of x to
the k is k times x to the k minus one.
Likewise the integral of x to the k is x
to the k plus one over k plus one.
Don't forget the arbitrary constant, and
don't forget that something unusual
happens when k is equal to negative one.
Both of these properties, should be
familiar from your previous exposure to

calculus.
Given these facts about polynomials,
let's see what we can observe about e to
the x.
For example, if we tried to differentiate
e to the x by using our definition, then
what would we obtain?
Well, thinking of u to the x as a long
polynomial in x, allows us to apply what
we already know.
For example, what is the derivative of
one?
That's clearing zero.
The derivative of x is clearly 1.
What is the derivative of 1 over 2
factoral times x squared.
Well, it's 1 over 2 factorial times the
derivative of x squared, which is 2x.
We can continue on down the line, taking
the derivative of x cubed, to be 3x
squared.
Etcetera.
Following the constants as we go.
Now a little bit of simplification tells
us that the 2x divided by 2 factorial
gives us simply x.
The 3x squared divided by 3 factorial
gives us simply x squared over 2
factorial.
This pattern continues since k divided by
k factorial is one over quantity k minus
one factorial.
And what do we observe?
We observe that we obtain the definition
of e to the x by simply following what
seemed to be the obvious thing to do.
Will that work if we try to integrate as
well?
Let's see.
If we try to integrate our definition, v
to the x.
1 plus x plus x squared over 2, etcetera.
What will we get?
While the integral of 1 gives us x, the
integral of x gives us one half x
squared.
If we have a 1 over 2 factorial times the
integral of x squared, that's 1 3rd x
cubed.
Now, I'll let you follow this pattern all
the way down the line, and see that with
a little bit of simplification, we wind
up getting, not quite e to the x.
It appears as though, we're missing the
first term.
We're missing the 1 out in front.
So now, we've obtained e to the x minus
1, that's not quite the way I remember
the integral of e to the x going.
However, we have forgotten as one often

does, the arbitrary constant out in

front.
We could absorb that negative 1 into the
arbitrary constant, and what we've
obtained is up to a constant e to the x.
That bodes well.
Let's see what else we can do.
We'll recall Euler's formula that tells
us something about exponentiating i times
x in terms of cosines and sines.
What happens if we apply our definition
of the exponential in this case.
If we want to take e to the i times x.
Well, this is 1 plus i times x, plus 1
over 2 factorial times quantity ix
squared.
That is, i squared times x squared
etcetera, etcetera.
There are a lot of terms here.
Then it appears as though there are some
simplifications that we can do.
Recall that by definition, i squared and
the square root of negative 1 squared,
must be negative 1.
Therefore, if we look at i cubed, we have
to get negative i.
And i to the fourth, being i squared,
squared, must be equal to 1.
Therefore, we have a sick-lick pattern in
our powers of i that allows us to
simplify this expression as 1 plus ix
minus x squared over 2 factorial, minus
ix cubed over 3 factorial plus x to the
fourth over 4 factorial etcetera.
You can see the pluses and the minuses
coming in alternating pairs, and the real
versus imaginary terms alternating with
each term.
Now, if we were to do what we do when we
work with complex numbers and collect all
of the real terms into one part, and all
of the imaginary terms into the other
then what would we obtain?
Well, the real portion of this expression
is, 1 minus x squared over 2 factorial,
plus x to the fourth over 4 factorial,
etcetera.
With the signs alternating and with even
powers of x.
From Euler's formula, that must be the
cosine of x.
Likewise, the sin of x must be the
imaginary portion of this expression.
That is, x minus x cubed over 3
factorial, plus x to the fifth over 5
factorial, etcetera.
With odd powers and alternating signs.
Our conclusion from this rather
simplistic manipulation is, that we now
have alternate expressions for certain

trigonometric functions.
The cosine of x is 1 minus x squared over
2 factorial plus x to the fourth over 4
factorial minus x to the sixth over 6
factorial, etcetera.
In summation notation, we can use a
wonderful little trick to express this
compactly, as the sum k goes from 0 to
infinity of negative 1 to the k times x
to the 2k over quantity 2k factorial.
That builds in the alternating signs and
the even powers.
Likewise, for sine of x, we can write
this in a summation notation, with a
similar idea as the sum k goes from 0 to
infinity of negative 1 to the k times x
to the 2k plus 1 over quantity 2k plus 1
factorial.
This gives us the odd powers of x.
Now, you may recall that the
trigonometric functions have some very
nice properties, with respect to
calculus.
For example, you may remember something
about the derivative sign of x.
Let's see what happens, when we take our
newly derived expression and
differentiate it, as if it were the long
polynomial.
The derivative of x is 1.
The derivative of x cubed is 3x squared,
we must divide this by 3 factorial.
The derivative of x to the fifth and x to
the seventh follow the familiar pattern
with a little bit of cancellation of the
coefficents, what do we see?
Well, we get 1 minus x squared over 2
factorial, plus x to the fourth over 4
factorial, minus x to the sixth over 6
factorial, etcetera.
This is an expression that we have very
recently seen.
this is out derived expression for the
cosine of x.
And you may recall that the derivative of
sine is cosine.
But without any complicated proof, we've
derived this expression very simply, by
pretending that everything in sight is a
long polynomial.
You could write this out in terms of
summation notation.
It looks a bit complicated, but it's a
wonderfully convenient and compact way to
perform this derivation.
I'll leave it to you to check, that you
can do this same thing with the
derivative of cosine of x, obtaining
minus sine of x.
We now have new interpretations for the

exponential function as well as for sine

and cosine.
Don't panic if these feel unfamiliar,
take a look at the bonus lecture to see a
more concrete perspective and to hear a
few words of comfort.
Be sure to take a look at that before
moving on to our next lesson, where we
introduce a series perspective for a
broader array of functions.