National Institute of Technology Rourkela

Department of Mathematics

Course: Numerical Analysis (Polynomial Interpolation) Assignment-II

1. Define polynomial interpolation and show that the interpolating polynomial exists
and unique. Find a bound of the truncation error in linear interpolation.

2. Derive Lagrange’s and Newton’s divided difference formula for approximating a con-
tinuous function by a quadratic interpolating polynomial in [a, b].

3. What should be the step size ‘h’ in linear interpolation for an absolute error of
atmost 10−6 in approximating the function ex in the interval [0, 1].

4. Construct a polynomial by forward and backward interpolation formula given the

following data

f (0) = 11, f (−1) = 4, f (1) = 16, f (−2) = 1, f (2) = 13, f (3) = −4.

5. Write general program in computer to approximate a function f ∈ C[a, b] by a nth

degree polynomial.

6. Compute f (9.2) by using Newton’s divided difference interpolation formula, from the
given data f (8.0) = 2.079442, f (9.0) = 2.197225, f (9.5) = 2.251292, f (11.0) =
2.397895.

7. Compute f (9.2) by using Newton’s divided difference interpolation formula, from the
given data f (8.0) = 2.079442, f (9.0) = 2.197225, f (9.5) = 2.251292, f (11.0) =
2.397895.

8. Using Newton’s forward difference interpolating polynomial, obtain polynomials

P1 (x), P2 (x), P3 (x), P4 (x) and the values at x = 0.5 from the following data:

x 0 1 2 3 4
f(x) 1 5 25 125 625

Write your conclusion. (Given f (x) = 5x )

9. Using Newton’s backward difference interpolating polynomial, obtain the value of

f (0.25) from the following data:

x 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

f(x) 1.40 1.56 1.76 2.00 2.28

10. Using mathematical induction prove that △n xn = n!hn .

11. For the function f (x) = 3x4 − x3 + x2 + 5, find f [1, 2, 3, 7, 8]. Further show that
f [x1 , x2 , x3 ] = x1 + x2 + x3 if f (x) = x3 .

12. Find a polynomial of degree 3 or less which agrees with the function f (x) = x2 at
x0 = 1, x1 = 3, x2 = 6, x3 = 7. Write your conclusion.

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