(Arguably) The Most Beautiful Equation in

Mathematics and (Unarguably) Proof that Math is

Dope
V. Hunter Adams
AbstractHey Kell. This is a derivation of Eulers (pronounced Oilers) equation using Taylor expansions. There are
probably some mathematicians that would get pissed at me
for doing this derivation as opposed to one based on different
mathematics, but I think this derivation is insanely cool, plus
this is the derivation that Euler actually used to discover his
equation.
Im sure you already know a lot of the stuff at the beginning
of this derivation. Im not trying to be pedantic, I just think
its really annoying when people dont start from first principles
when explaining things, and its helpful to be clear about all of
the terminology. Feel free to skip through the first sections.

I.

F UNCTIONS

I know you know what a function is, but it might be one

of those things thats hard to put into words. Here are the
words:
Function: A relationship between a set of inputs and a
set of outputs, with the property that each input is related to
exactly one output.
For purposes of this derivation, only single-variable
functions are needed. Examples include f (x) = x2 , or
f (x) = 3x3 + 2x + 1, or f (x) = sin x, or f (x) = ex . Its just
an equation that you plug a single number into (x), and get a
single number out of (f (x), aka y).

Fig. 2. This is NOT a function since for every value of x there are two
values f (x) (or y). One on the blue part, and one on the orange part.

function. The derivative is simply the rate of change of the

function. If a function takes time as an input, for example,
and gives position as an output; then the derivative is velocity.
The derivative of the equation shown in Fig. 1 is:
d 2
(x ) = 2x
dt

(1)

It looks like this:

Fig. 3. Derivative of f (x) = x2 (to the left). Notice that it starts out negative,
passes through the origin, then turns positive. Eyeballing the plot to the left,
you can see that the slope does that.
Fig. 1. This is a function. For every value of x, there is exactly one value
of f (x) (or y).

II.

D ERIVATIVES

For all smooth functions (functions that dont have any

pointy parts), you can take the derivative anywhere on the

If we take the derivative again of the velocity function

shown in Fig. 3, then we get acceleration. In this case, the slope
of the velocity is constant, so the acceleration is a constant.
d
2x = 2
dt

(2)

And it looks like this: Since this line is flat, the slope is always

Fig. 6.

Fig. 4. Derivative of f (x) = x2 (to the left). Notice that it starts out negative,
passes through the origin, then turns positive. Eyeballing the plot to the left,
you can see that the slope does that.

zero. So if we take another derivative (or two more, or three

more, or infinity more), we will get zero. There are a class
of infinitely differentiable functions for which the derivative
never dies. No matter how many derivatives you take of that
type of function, you will never get zero.
The thing to note here is just that the derivative is telling
you about the curvature of the function. The first derivative
tells you how fast the function is changing. The second
derivative tells you how fast the rate of change of the function
is changing. Etc.
III.

Plot of sin x and sin (x = 0)

This is a pretty crappy approximation of the sin function.

Its perfect exactly at x = 0, but then it diverges from the real
sin function really quickly. If you only care about the solution
exactly at x = 0, then this works fine. Otherwise, you have to
make a better approximation.
The way to improve the approximation of the sin function
at x = 0 is to use information about the derivative of the sin
function at x = 0. In this way, we start to match the curvature
of the sin function at x = 0. Starting with the first derivative:
sin x sin 0 + x

d
sin x|x=0
dx

=0+x

(3)
(4)

Heres the plot: Its a better approximation. It sticks near the

TAYLOR S ERIES

Lets say you have some function, well use f (x) = sin x
as an example. This function shows up in equations for tons of

Fig. 7. Approximation of the sin function at x = 0, using information about

the derivative of the sin function at x = 0.

sin curve for a while longer than the previous approximation.

An even better approximation can be made by using information from the first, second, third, etc. derivatives of the sin
function at x = 0. From the second derivative:
d
1
d2
sin x|x=0 + x2 2 sin x|x=0
dt
2 dx
0+x+0

sin x sin 0 + x
Fig. 5.

Plot of f (x) = sin x

different things. That can be annoying, however, because sin

is often really hard to deal with in equations. To get around
that problem, people use Taylor Series. The Taylor Series for
sin can be used instead of sin itself in those equations. Its an
approximation of the real sin function.
Lets say, for example, that we want to approximate the sin
function (shown in Fig. 5) around x = 0. The first thing we
could do is simply use the value of the sin function at x = 0
(which is 0). See Fig. 6.

(5)
(6)

(No new information came from the second derivative, for this
particular function). From the third derivative:
1
sin x 0 + x + 0 x3
6
The improved approximation is shown in Fig. 8:

(7)

We could keep doing this forever. Each time information

about the next derivative is taken into account, the approximation to the sin curve gets a bit better. Taking a few more into
account, the approximation looks like this:

the cosine and the exponential.

x2
x4
+
+
2!
4!
n
X
x2n
=
(1)n
(2n)!
0

cos x = 1

(11)
(12)

All that we did was use equation 8 to write out a few terms
of the summation. Then we noticed a pattern and re-wrote the
summation as equation (12). Similarly for the exponential:
Fig. 8. Approximation of the sin function at x = 0, using information about
the first, second, and third derivatives of sin x at x = 0.

ex = 1 + x +
=

n
X
0

x2
x3
+
+
2!
3!

xn
n!

(13)
(14)

(Ill talk later about what e actually is). Again, by letting n

go to infinity in equations (12) or (14), we can exactly recover
the cos and exponential functions. Im repeating myself, but
thats a very important point.
Its also important to remember that equations (10), (12),
and (14) are just sums of numbers. Because they are just a
bunch of numbers added up, all of the properties of addition
still hold. It doesnt matter, for example, the order in which
we add the terms in the summation since, by associativity:
+ =+
Fig. 9. Adding more and more information about the derivative at x = 0
improves the estimate of the sin curve.

As a matter of fact, if we used information from infinity

number of derivatives, the approximation would converge
exactly to the originial sin curve. Think about that for a second.
Using information about the function at one point, it is possible
to reconstruct the function over all of space. If this were a
3D function that occupied the entire universe, it would be
possible to reconstruct the entire thing using information about
the function at the tip of your nose.
The procedure by which these derivatives are combined is
given by:
n
X
1 n
f (x)|x=0 xn
(8)
f (x)
n!
0
In the case of the sin function, this summation converges
exactly if n = 0. For the sin function, the expansion can be
written as:
x3
x5
+

3!
5!
n
X
x2n+1
=
(1)n
(2n + 1)!
0

sin x = x

(9)
(10)

If n = , then the summation and the sin function are

completely, 100 percent identical.
IV.

O NE S TEP FARTHER

The sin function is not unique in that it can be expressed

as a summation. By using equation (8), a lot of other functions
can also be expressed this way. Lets take two in particular:

(15)

The order doesnt matter. The distributive property also still

holds. Any constant multiplied by the summation can be
rewritten as the summation of the constant multiplied by every
element of the summation. That is:
C( + ) = C + C

(16)

Equations (10), (12), and (14) are nothing more complicated

than a bunch of numbers added together.
V.

A B RIEF A SIDE

Sidestepping for a moment, Id like to give the complex

number i a clear definition before going farther in the derivation. The imaginary unit i is defined as

i = 1
(17)
Clearly, there is no real number that satisfies that equation.
Imaginary numbers are, in a mathematical sense, perpendicular
to real numbers. It took people a long time to realize that
these numbers were useful (in much the same way that it took
people a long time to come around to the idea of 0 or negative
numbers). In fact, the term imaginary was coined in the 17th
century as a derogatory term.
Anyway, from the definition given in equation (17) we
derive a few properties:
i0 = 1
ii = i

i2 = (i)(i) = 1 1 == 1
i3 = (i)(i2 ) = (i)(1) = i
i4 = (i2 )(i2 ) = (1)(1) = 1
i5 = (i)(i4 ) = i
..
.

(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)
(22)
(23)
(24)

After i3 , the cycle repeats with i4 = 1, i5 = i, etc.

VI.

BACK TO THE D ERIVATION

Look back at equations (13) and (14). In those equations,

x is a real number. Let us use those summations to write
the summation for eix . By using ix instead of x, we are just
making x imaginary. Precisely what that means is difficult to
intuit, but the solution is easily obtained by substituting ix for
x in the summations:
(ix)2
(ix)3
(ix)4
+
+
+
(25)
2!
3!
4!
Now using the properties given in equations (18)-(23), we can
rewrite this summation:
eix = 1 + (ix) +

eix = 1 + (ix)

x3
x4
x5
x2
i +
+ i +
2
3!
4!
5!

(26)

Because this is just a bunch of numbers added together,

the order that we add them doesnt matter. Furthermore, the
distributive property (equation 16) holds. So, we can rearrange
the summation so that it looks like this:
2

eix = (1

x
x
x
x
+
+ ) + i(x
+
+ ) (27)
2!
4!
3!
5!

Look at the summations inside each set of parentheses,

and look at equations (9) and (11). This is Eulers insight.
The summation inside the left set of parentheses is exactly the
summation for cos x and the summation in the right set of
parentheses is exactly the summation for sin x. If we let n go
to infinity (if infinity numbers of terms are included in each
of these summations), then the summations and the cos/sin
functions are completely, 100 percent identical and can be used
interchangeably. Rewriting one last time:
eix = cos x + i sin x

(28)

This is Eulers equation. From here, we can get some really

interesting relationships, including the most beautiful equation
in mathematics.
VII.

A NOTHER B RIEF A SIDE

Before finishing up, I want to sidestep one more time to

talk about e and . has a really clean geometric definition.
If you take any perfect circle and divide its circumference by
its diameter, you will get . Thats because
C = 2r = D

(29)

As you know, is real (not imaginary) and irrational (impossible to be expressed as a fraction, and with infinite decimals).
Numerically, = 3.1415926 .
e doesnt have the same clean geometric definition as , but
its similar in a lot of ways. Like , it is a real and irrational
number with infinite decimals. It can be defined in a number
of different ways. One definition is simply given by the Taylor
Series:
n=
X 1
(30)
e=
n!
0
If you do that summation, youll get the number e. It can
also be defined as the unique number a such that the graph of

y = ax has a slope equal to 1 at x = 0. Another definition for

e is the solution to the equation

n
1
lim 1 +
(31)
n
n
This equation shows up all over the place when youre dealing
with things that are compounding (interest, perhaps, or populations). e shows up when youre dealing with things that are
exponential.
The definition for e isnt as intuitive or geometrically
satisfying as that for . Like , its a real irrational number.
e shows up all over the place as the solution to equations
involving compounding stuff, or exponentially growing stuff.
Numerically, e = 2.718281828 .
VIII.

T HE M OST B EAUTIFUL E QUATION

For clarity, equation (28) is rewritten below:

eix = cos x + i sin x

(32)

For absolutely any number x that we plug into this equation,

the left side will equal the right side. Let us plug in the value
x = . This yields
ei = cos + i sin

(33)

The cosine of is -1, and the sine of is 0. So, rewriting:

ei = 1 + i(0)
ei = 1 + 0

(34)
(35)

Subtracting the -1 to the other side of the equation:

ei + 1 = 0

(36)

The above equation relates e, , 1, i, and 0. These are

considered the five most important numbers in mathematics.
It relates the additive identity (0) which is real and rational,
the multiplicative identity (1) which is real and rational,
the most important constant in geometry () which is real
and irrational, the constant that forms the base of natural
logarithms (e) which is real and irrational, and the fundamental
unit of imaginary numbers (i) which is obviously imaginary.
Furthermore, it includes the three core arithmetic operations
addition, multiplication, and exponentiation.
This inspired Richard Feyman to call it our jewel and
the most remarkable equation in mathematics.
Stanford mathematics professor Keith Devlin said like a
Shakespearean sonnet that captures the very essence of love,
or a painting that brings out the beauty of the human form that
is far more than just skin deep, Eulers equation reaches down
into the very depths of existence.