Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2001 / Paper 1 / 9 / b / Solution

For fixed real $a\ne 0$, write the square root as $|a|\sqrt{1+x^2/a^2}$ and use the binomial series with exponent $-1/2$:The absolute values are necessary for negative $a$. This Taylor series is valid for $|x|<|a|$. If $a=0$, the quotient is $x/|x|$ for $x\ne 0$; it has no continuous extension at zero and therefore has no Taylor expansion about zero.