LAGRANGE_BASIS_DISPLAY
Display Basis Functions for Lagrange Interpolation


LAGRANGE_BASIS_DISPLAY is a MATLAB program which displays the basis functions associated with any set of interpolation points to be used for Lagrange interpolation.

The Lagrange interpolating polynomial to a set of m+1 data pairs (xi,yi) can be represented as

        p(x) = sum ( 1 <= i <= m + 1 ) yi * l(i,x)
      
Each function l(i,x) is a Lagrange basis function associated with the set of x data values. Each l(i,x) is a polynomial of degree m, which is 1 at node xi and zero at the other nodes. Moreover, there is an explicit formula:
        l(i,x) = product ( 1 <= j <= m + 1, j /= i ) ( x  - xj ) 
               / product ( 1 <= j <= m + 1, j /= i ) ( xi - xj )
      
Thus the interpolating polynomial can be represented as a linear combination of the Lagrange basis functions, and the coefficients are simply the data values yi.

For a given set of m+1 data pairs (xi,yi), you may also define the same interpolating polynomial using a Vandermonde matrix; this approach essentially uses the monomials 1, x, x^2, ..., x^m as the basis functions. The unknown polynomial coefficients c must be determined by forming and solving the Vandermonde system; not only is this method more costly, but this linear system is numerically ill-conditioned, so that the resulting answers can be unreliable.

Licensing:

The computer code and data files described and made available on this web page are distributed under the GNU LGPL license.

Languages:

LAGRANGE_BASIS_DISPLAY is available in a MATLAB version.

Related Data and Programs:

LAGRANGE_INTERP_1D, a MATLAB library which defines and evaluates the Lagrange polynomial p(x) which interpolates a set of data, so that p(x(i)) = y(i).

VANDERMONDE_INTERP_1D, a MATLAB library which finds a polynomial interpolant to data y(x) of a 1D argument, by setting up and solving a linear system for the polynomial coefficients, involving the Vandermonde matrix.

Reference:

  1. Kendall Atkinson,
    An Introduction to Numerical Analysis,
    Prentice Hall, 1989,
    ISBN: 0471624896,
    LC: QA297.A94.1989.
  2. Philip Davis,
    Interpolation and Approximation,
    Dover, 1975,
    ISBN: 0-486-62495-1,
    LC: QA221.D33
  3. David Kahaner, Cleve Moler, Steven Nash,
    Numerical Methods and Software,
    Prentice Hall, 1989,
    ISBN: 0-13-627258-4,
    LC: TA345.K34.

Source Code:

Examples and Tests:

Plots made by the test include:

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Last revised on 06 August 2012.