3.

1 Interpolation and the Lagrange Polynomial 115

2. For the given functions f (x), let x0 = 1, x1 = 1.25, and x2 = 1.6. Construct interpolation polynomials
of degree at most one and at most two to approximate f (1.4), and find the absolute error.
a. f (x) = sin πx c. f (x) = log10 (3x − 1)
√
b. f (x) = 3 x − 1 d. f (x) = e2x − x
3. Use Theorem 3.3 to find an error bound for the approximations in Exercise 1.
4. Use Theorem 3.3 to find an error bound for the approximations in Exercise 2.
5. Use appropriate Lagrange interpolating polynomials of degrees one, two, and three to approximate
each of the following:
a. f (8.4) if f (8.1) = 16.94410, f (8.3) = 17.56492, f (8.6) = 18.50515, f (8.7) = 18.82091

b. f − 13 if f (−0.75) = −0.07181250, f (−0.5) = −0.02475000, f (−0.25) = 0.33493750,
f (0) = 1.10100000
c. f (0.25) if f (0.1) = 0.62049958, f (0.2) = −0.28398668, f (0.3) = 0.00660095, f (0.4) =
0.24842440
d. f (0.9) if f (0.6) = −0.17694460, f (0.7) = 0.01375227, f (0.8) = 0.22363362, f (1.0) =
0.65809197
6. Use appropriate Lagrange interpolating polynomials of degrees one, two, and three to approximate
each of the following:
a. f (0.43) if f (0) = 1, f (0.25) = 1.64872, f (0.5) = 2.71828, f (0.75) = 4.48169
b. f (0) if f (−0.5) = 1.93750, f (−0.25) = 1.33203, f (0.25) = 0.800781, f (0.5) = 0.687500
c. f (0.18) if f (0.1) = −0.29004986, f (0.2) = −0.56079734, f (0.3) = −0.81401972, f (0.4) =
−1.0526302
d. f (0.25) if f (−1) = 0.86199480, f (−0.5) = 0.95802009, f (0) = 1.0986123, f (0.5) =
1.2943767
7. The data for Exercise 5 were generated using the following functions. 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.
a. f (x) = x ln x
b. f (x) = x3 + 4.001x 2 + 4.002x + 1.101
c. f (x) = x cos x − 2x 2 + 3x − 1
d. f (x) = sin(ex − 2)
8. The data for Exercise 6 were generated using the following functions. 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.
a. f (x) = e2x
b. f (x) = x 4 − x 3 + x 2 − x + 1
c. f (x) = x 2 cos x − 3x
d. f (x) = ln(ex + 2)
9. Let P3 (x) be the interpolating polynomial for the data (0, 0), (0.5, y), (1, 3), and (2, 2). The coefficient
of x 3 in P3 (x) is 6. Find y.
√
10. Let f (x) = x − x 2 and P2 (x) be the interpolation polynomial on x0 = 0, x1 and x2 = 1. Find the
largest value of x1 in (0, 1) for which f (0.5) − P2 (0.5) = −0.25.
11. Use the following values and four-digit rounding arithmetic to construct a third Lagrange polyno-
mial approximation to f (1.09). The function being approximated is f (x) = log10 (tan x). Use this
knowledge to find a bound for the error in the approximation.

f (1.00) = 0.1924 f (1.05) = 0.2414 f (1.10) = 0.2933 f (1.15) = 0.3492

12. Use the Lagrange interpolating polynomial of degree three or less and four-digit chopping arithmetic
to approximate cos 0.750 using the following values. Find an error bound for the approximation.

cos 0.698 = 0.7661 cos 0.733 = 0.7432 cos 0.768 = 0.7193 cos 0.803 = 0.6946

The actual value of cos 0.750 is 0.7317 (to four decimal places). Explain the discrepancy between the
actual error and the error bound.

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