22/09/2019 math - List Manipulation in Mathematica pertaining to Lagrange Interpolation Polynomials in Mathematica - Stack Overflow

I am trying to use a list which is passed to a function in such a way

that I can

get the length of that list

get the individual x and y values to manipulate

The list I am trying to manipulate can be seen below:

dataTan = Table[{x, Tan[x]}, {x, -1.5, 1.5, .75}];

this question is a sort of a follow-up to the question seen here. I

eventually want to write my own function in mathematica that
generates the Lagrange Interpolation polynomial for a given set of
points

{{x0, y0}, ... , {xn, yn}}

I need some way to access the points above so that I may utilize the
code below:

Sum[Subscript[y, j]*Product[If[j != m, (x - Subscript[x, m])/

(Subscript[x, j] - Subscript[x, m]), 1], {m, 0, k}], {j,

math wolfram-mathematica

share improve this question edited May 23 '17 at 12:03 asked Dec 7 '11 at 5:01
Community ♦ Matthew Kemnetz
1 1 545 1 10 28

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2 Answers active oldest votes

Given your last question, I'm guessing that you mean a Lagrange
Polynomial, so

4 LagrangePoly[pts_?MatrixQ, var_: x] /; MatchQ[Dimensions[pts],

With[{k = Length[pts]}, Sum[pts[[j, 2]] Product[
If[j != m, (var - pts[[m, 1]])/(pts[[j, 1]] - pts[[m, 1]]
{m, 1, k}], {j, 1, k}]]

We can test it against the tangent function,

In[2]:= points = Table[{x, Tan[x]}, {x, -1.2, 1.2, .2}]

Out[2]= {{-1.2, -2.57215}, {-1., -1.55741}, {-0.8, -1.02964},
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8410613/list-manipulation-in-mathematica-pertaining-to-lagrange-interpolation-polynomial 1/3
22/09/2019 math - List Manipulation in Mathematica pertaining to Lagrange Interpolation Polynomials in Mathematica - Stack Overflow

{-0.6, -0.684137}, {-0.4, -0.422793}, {-0.2, -0.20271

{0., 0.}, {0.2, 0.20271}, {0.4, 0.422793},
{0.6, 0.684137}, {0.8, 1.02964}, {1., 1.55741}, {1.2,

In[3]:= Plot[Evaluate[Expand[LagrangePoly[points, x]]], {x, -1

Epilog -> Point[points]]

In this case, the interpolation is good, the maximum deviation from

the original function is

In[4]:= FindMaximum[{Abs[Tan[x] - LagrangePoly[points, x]], -1

Out[4]= {0.000184412, {x -> 0.936711}}

Also note, that interpolating polynomials are actually built into

Mathematica:

In[5]:= InterpolatingPolynomial[points, x]-LagrangePoly[points

Out[5]= 0

I had to expand them both before comparison,

since InterpolatingPolynomial returns the result in the
efficient HornerForm , while my LagrangePoly is returned in a very
inefficient form.

share improve this answer edited May 23 '17 at 12:01

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answered Dec 7 '11 at 5:17

Simon
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https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8410613/list-manipulation-in-mathematica-pertaining-to-lagrange-interpolation-polynomial 2/3
22/09/2019 math - List Manipulation in Mathematica pertaining to Lagrange Interpolation Polynomials in Mathematica - Stack Overflow

If you have a list l then you can get the length of that list by
using First@Dimensions@l . Assuming that the list has the
2 form {{x1,y1},{x2,y2},...} you can then get any of
the x and y values at position index just by
using Part[l,index] or its shorthand l[[index]] .

EDIT: If you want to do things the simple way you could conceivably
use Length@l for the length of the list.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8410613/list-manipulation-in-mathematica-pertaining-to-lagrange-interpolation-polynomial 3/3