I don't know where to begin with this question.
A function $f(x)$ can be expressed as a special power series called the Taylor expansion. The common expansion is $(1-x)^{-1}=1+x+x^2$ Note that the higher terms become neglibible small and usually are not included in expansion. Find the correlation between the virial coefficients and $a$ and $b$ in the corresponding van der Waals equation of state. Start with the equation shown below and compare it with the virial equation of state.
$$ p=\frac{RT\left(1-\frac{b}{V_{\mathrm m}}\right)^{-1}}{V_{\mathrm m}}- \frac{a}{V_{\mathrm m}^2}$$
The virial equation of state is
$$ p=\frac{nRT}{V}\left(1+\frac{nB}{V}+\frac{n^2C}{V^2}+\ldots\right)$$
I get that there are $A$, $B$, $C$… coefficients, and that the $A$ coefficient should be 1.
The best I have is that:
$$\begin{align} A &= 1 \\ B &= -\left(\frac{b}{V_{\mathrm m}}\right)^{-1} \\ C &= -\frac{a}{V_{\mathrm m}^2} \end{align}$$
If I were to relate that to the terms in the Taylor expansion, then $p=(1-x)^{-1}$ and then $A$, $B$, $C$… are the terms on the right side of the equation.
Is this the correct approach? Can the virial coefficients have a negative value?