Computational complexity of expanding a MacLaurin/Taylor Series

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What methods exist to computationally determine the first $k$ coefficients of a function (possibly polynomial or rational polynomial function)?

How do Mathematica/MatLab/Maple/etc. solve this problem?

Thanks!

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You might want to take a peek at maxima, an open-source computer algebra system. It is written in Common LISP, so be warned.

In general, I suspect that they do it more or less how you'd do it: If it is something known (and a CAS can have a huge list of known functions), use that, else build up the expansion by splicing together known expansions. Or just use Taylor's theorem, differentiating lots of times. But I'm sure some expert in symbolic computation will soon tell you I'm completely off-base...