Subject: Numerical Methods (MA221) Problem Set 9
Course Instructor(s): S.K. + G.R. + P.D.
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Jais, U.P. 229304
1. Let f (x) = log(1 + x), x0 = 1 and x1 = 1.1. Use linear interpolation to calculate an approximate value for f (1.04), and
obtain a bound on the truncation error.
√
2. Determine the maximum step size that can be used in the tabulation of f (x) = 1 − x in [0, 1], so that the error in the
linear interpolation will be less than 5 × 10−4 . Find also the step size if quadratic interpolation is used.
3. Use Lagrange’s formula to express each of the following functions as a sum of partial fractions.
3x2 +x+1 x2 +6x−1 x2 +x−3
a) f (x) = (x−1)(x−2)(x−3) b) f (x) = (x2 −1)(x−4)(x−6) c) f (x) = x3 −2x2 −x−2
4. Find the missing term in the following table using
(a) Lagrange’s interpolation
(b) divided difference interpolation
x 0 1 2 3 4
y 1 3 9 - 81
5. A curve passes through the points (0, 18), (1, 10), (3, –18) and (6, 90). Find the slope of the curve at x = 2.
6. Consider the following table. Using (i) Newton’s divided difference interpolating polynomial, (ii) Lagarange’s interpo-
x 4 5 7 10 11 13
f (x) 48 100 294 900 1210 2028
lating polynomial, evaluate f (8) and f (15).
7. Find the bound for the error in linear interpolation.
8. For linear interpolation, in the case of equispaced tabular data, show that the error does not exceed 1/8 of the second
difference.
9. Given the square of the integers N and N + 1, what is the largest error that occurs if linear interpolation is used to
approximate f (x) = x2 for N ≤ x ≤ N + 1?
√
10. Determine the step size h in a table of equally spaced values of the function f (x) = x in the interval [1, 2], so that
interpolation with a second degree polynomial will yield a desired accuracy.
11. How much larger could we make step size h so that quadratic interpolation would have an error comparable to that of
linear interpolation of log10 x in the interval [1, 5] with h = 0.01?
12. Determine the step size that can be used in the tabulation of f (x) = sin(x) in the interval [0, π/4] at equally spaced
nodal points so that the truncation error of the quadratic interpolation is less than 5 × 10−8 .
13. A table of values for f (x) = e3x in [0, 1] is constructed with step size 0.05. Find the maximum total error if quadratic
interpolation is to be used to interpolate in this interval.
14. Determine the step size that can be used in the tabulation of a function f (x), a ≤ x ≤ b, at equally spaced nodal points
so that the truncation error of the quadratic interpolation is less than ϵ.
15. Determine the step size that can be used in the tabulation of a function f (x), a ≤ x ≤ b, at equally spaced nodal points
so that the truncation error of the cubic interpolation is less than ϵ.
n
X
16. Denoting the interpolant of f (x) on the set of (distinct) points x0 , x1 , . . . , xn by lk (x)f (xk ), find an expression for
Pn k=0
n+1
k=0 lk (0)xk .
17. Let x0 , x1 , . . . , xn be n + 1 distinct nodes in the closed interval [a, b] and let f (x) be n + 1 times continuously differentiable
function on [a, b]. Then show that
d
(a) dx f [x0 , . . . , xi−1 , x] = f [x0 , . . . , xi−1 , x, x].
(b) the divided difference are symmetric function of their arguments, i.e., for an arbitrary permutation π of the indices
0, 1, . . . , i we have f [x0 , . . . , xi ] = f [xπ0 , . . . , xπi ].
18. Let f (x) be a real-valued function defined on I = [a, b] and k times differentiable in (a, b). If x0 , x1 , . . . , xk are k + 1
distinct points in [a, b], then show that there exist a ξ ∈ (a, b) such that
f (k) (ξ)
f [x0 , . . . , xk ] = .
k!
Assignment Problems:
1. Using Lagrange interpolation, find the unique polynomial P (x) of degree 2 or less such that P (1) = 1, P (3) = 27, P (4) =
64.
2. Using Newton’s forward interpolation formula show that
2
X n(n + 1)
n3 = .
2
3. From the following table, estimate the number of students who obtained marks between 40 and 45:
Marks 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80
No. of students: 31 42 51 35 31
4. Find the distance moved by a particle and its acceleration at the end of 4 seconds, if the time verses velocity data is as
follows:
t: 0 1 3 4
v: 21 15 12 10