We approximate the function f(x)=cosx.
We can easily evaluate cosx and sinx (sinx will appear in the first derivative) at x=0, and 0 is quite close to 151, so we centre our approximation about x=0.
f(0)f′(x)f′(0)f′′(x)f′′(0)Using the quadratic approximation f(x)≈f(0)+f′(0)(x−0)+21f′′(0)(x−0)2:f(x)f(151)=1=−sinx=−sin(0)=0=−cosx=−cos(0)=−1≈1−21x2≈1−2⋅1521=450449
We approximate cos(151)≈450449.
Remark: 450449=0.9977, while a calculator gives
cos(151)≈0.9977786. Our approximation has an error of about 0.000001.