MA2032 Assignment 2

11/9/2017

1. Construct interpolation polynomials for the following functions using the nodes given. Find
an error bound for the approximations.

(a) f pxq  cos x; x0  0, x1  0.6, and x2  0.9.

Approximate f p0.45q, and find the absolute error.
?
(b) f pxq  3 x
1; x0  1, x1  1.25, and x2  1.6.
Approximate f p1.4q, and find the absolute error.

2. Given the distinct points xi , i  0, 1, ..., n 1, and the points yi , i  0, 1, ..., n 1, let q be
the Lagrange polynomial of degree n for the set of points tpxi , yi q : i  0, 1, ..., nu and let r
be the Lagrange polynomial of degree n for the points tpxi , yi q : i  1, 2, ..., n 1u. Define

p px q 
px
x0qrpxq
px
xn 1qqpxq .
xn 1
x0

Show that p is the Lagrange polynomial of degree n 1 for the points tpxi , yi q : i  0, 1, ..., n
1u.

3. Use appropriate Lagrange interpolating polynomials of degrees one, two, and three to approxi-
mate f p8.4q if f p8.1q  16.94410, f p8.3q  17.56492, f p8.6q  18.50515 and f p8.7q  18.82091

4. The data for the above problem was generated using f pxq  x ln x. Use the error formula to
find a bound for the error, and compare the bound to the actual error for the cases n  1
and n  2.

5. Construct an approximating polynomial for the following data.

f p0q  1, f 1 p0q  2; f p0.5q  2.71828, f 1 p0.5q  5.43656.

6. Consider f pxq  e0.1x . Approximate f p1.25q by using p5 p1.25q and p3 p1.25q, where p5 uses
2

the nodes x0  1, x1  2, and x2  3; and p3 uses the nodes x0  1 and x1  1.5. Find error
bounds for these approximations. You can use the following set of values:
f p1q  1.105170918, f 1 p1q  0.2210341836; f p1.5q  1.252322716, f 1 p1.5q  0.3756968148
f p2q  1.491824698, f 1 p2q  0.5967298792; f p3q  2.459603111, f 1 p3q  1.475761867

7. Construct the natural cubic spline for the following data. f p0.1q  0.29004996, f p0.2q 
0.56079734 and f p0.3q  0.81401972.

8. An interpolating spline of degree n is required to have continuous derivatives of order up to

and including n
1 at the nodes. How many additional conditions are required to specify the
spline uniquely?

9. Suppose that f is a polynomial of degree 1. Show that the linear spline sL which interpolates
f at xi for i  0, 1, ..., m is identical to f , so that sL  f .