MA-201:Error in Interpolation

Let f (x) be a function with its value given at n + 1 points say, x0 , x1 , . . . , xn such that x0 < x1 < · · · < xn . We
determine a unique polynomial P (x) called as interpolating polynomial of degree n which satisfies the conditions:

P (xi ) = f (xi ), i = 0, 1, 2, . . . , n (1)

Then the truncation error in the interpolation is defined as

E(f ; x) = f (x) − P (x). (2)

Clearly, the polynomial coincides with the function f(x) at node points and E(f;x)=0 at x = xi , for i = 1,2,...n

Error in linear polynomial

Let P(x) be a linear polynomial approximtion to function f(x) for x[x0 , x1 ].
Given two points x0 and x1 , then absolute error will be given as:

|E1 (f ; x)| = |f (x) − P (x)|

 
 (x − x0 )(x − x1 ) 00 
= f (ξ) , x0 < ξ < x1
2

Also, maximum error = M22 max |(x − x0 )(x − x1 )| where M2 = max |f (x)| .
x0 <ξ<x1 x0 <ξ<x1
Proof: We notice that if x = x0 ,or x = x1 ,then E1 (f ; x) = 0. If x(x0 , x1 ) then for this x we define a function G(t)
as

(t − x0 )(t − x1 )
G(t) = f (t) − P (t) − [f (x) − P (x)] (3)
(x − x0 )(x − x1 )
We can verify that

G(t)|t=x0 = 0
G(t)|t=x1 = 0
G(t)|t=x = 0,

We recall here Rolle’s theorem:

If g(x) is continuous function on some interval [a,b] and differentiable on (a,b) and if g(a)=0, g(b)=0,
then there exists at least one point ξ inside (a,b) for which g 0 (ξ) = 0.
Hence, by Rolle’s theorem on G(t) for (x0 , x) and (x, x1 ), we get

G0 (ξ1 ) = 0, x0 < ξ < x

G0 (ξ2 ) = 0, x < ξ2 < x1

Now, G0 (t) also satisfies conditions of Rolle’s theorem. Applying again Rolle’s theorem for G0 (t) on the interval
(ξ1 , ξ2 ), we get
G00 (ξ) = 0, x0 < ξ1 < ξ < ξ2 < x1 (4)
Since, P (x) is linear polynomial, which implies
P 00 (t) = 0 (5)
Hence, from equations (4) and (5), we get
2(f (x) − P (x))
G00 (t) = f 00 (t) −
(x − x0 )(x − x1 )

1
Setting G00 (ξ) = 0, we get
(x − x0 )(x − x1 ) 00
E1 (f ; x) = f (ξ)
2
(x−x0 )(x−x1 )
For maximum of error, we will find maximum of 2

Let
(x − x0 )(x − x1 )
H(x) =
2
which implies
(x − x1 ) (x − x0 )
H 0 (x) = +
2 2
For critical point,
x0 + x1
H 0 (x) = 0 ⇒ x =
2
which gives maximum value of H(x) as
 x0 +x1
 ( 2 − x0 )( x0 +x − x1 )  (x1 − x0 )2 h2
1

2
 = =
 2  4 4

where h is the step size.

Hence, maximum value of truncation error in linear interpolation will be

h2
|E1 (x)| < M2
8
If the acceptable error is  > 0, we must have

|E1 (x)| < 

h2
⇒ M2 < 
8 √
2 2
⇒h<
M2
Above gives the bound in stepsize h in linear interpolation.

Task 1: Similarly prove that for quadratic interpolation for three nodes, the truncation error is given
by:

(x − x0 )(x − x1 )(x − x3 ) 000

E2 (f ; x) = f (ξ)
3!
Therefore,
M3
|E2 (x)| = max |(x − x0 )(x − x1 )(x − x2 )|
6 x0 <ξ<x2
where
M3 = max f 000 (ξ)
x0 <ξ<x2

Further, if the stepsize is h, then the quadratic interpolation with error bound  must satisfy the folllowing condition:
√ !1/3
9 3
h<
M3

Task 2:
1. Determine the step size h that can be used in the tabulation of f (x) = sin(x) in [0, π4 ] of equally spaced points
so that the truncation error of quadratic interpolation is less that 5 × 10−8 .
2. Determine the maximum value of uniform step size h that can be used in the tabulation of f (x) = (2 + x)4 in
[1, 2] of equally spaced points so that the truncation error of quadratic interpolation is less that 10−4 .