- #1
hgonzaga89
- 1
- 0
This is a question i hope someone on the forum can help me answer.
Recently In a lab i had this question pop into my head, here goes:
If I have a set of data and i am asked to find the derivative, I can plot
it using the equation f'(x) ~ (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) if i have sufficently close points.
A complication arrises using machine numbers since if the points are too close
we may calculate a near infinite derivative, so it may be wise to make this
modification f'(x) ~ (y3-y1)/(x3-x1),(y4-y1)/(x4-x1) ... etc. So if assuming I
communicated this background information sufficiently, my question is:
Is there a way to optimize the distance between points a and b such that the
derivative approximation is most accurate?
Any Takers?
Recently In a lab i had this question pop into my head, here goes:
If I have a set of data and i am asked to find the derivative, I can plot
it using the equation f'(x) ~ (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) if i have sufficently close points.
A complication arrises using machine numbers since if the points are too close
we may calculate a near infinite derivative, so it may be wise to make this
modification f'(x) ~ (y3-y1)/(x3-x1),(y4-y1)/(x4-x1) ... etc. So if assuming I
communicated this background information sufficiently, my question is:
Is there a way to optimize the distance between points a and b such that the
derivative approximation is most accurate?
Any Takers?