MHB Calculus II Simpson's, Trapezoidal, and Midpoint Rule

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The discussion centers on solving calculus problems using the Simpson's, Trapezoidal, and Midpoint rules. For question 7a, the trapezoidal rule yielded an answer of approximately 1.732865, while the midpoint rule in part b resulted in 0.893713, which was noted to be incorrect and too low. In question 7c, the Simpson's rule produced a value of about 1.719693, close to the trapezoidal approximation. Participants provided calculations and hints to correct the midpoint result. The conversation highlights the importance of accuracy in applying numerical integration techniques.
ardentmed
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Hey guys, I'd appreciate some tips for this question.

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For question 7a, I used
1/2 * 4/8 [1f(x) + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1.. etc]
and computed 1.732865 as the answer.

For part b, I used 1/4, 3/4.. (etc.).. up to 15/4 for the midpoints, added the f(x) values of those points together, and divided by four. Oddly enough, I only got 0.893713 this time.

Finally, for question 7c, I used
1/3 * 4/8 [1f(x) + 4 + 2+ 4+ 2 + 4.. etc]
and computed 1.719693 as the answer, which is close to the trapezoidal approximation, but the midpoint approximation is what's throwing me off.

Thanks a ton, I really appreciate the help guys.
 
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For the trapezoidal one:
$a=0$
$b=4$
$n=8$
$\Delta x=\frac{4-0}{8}=\frac{1}{2}$

$T_{8}=\frac{0.5}{2}[f(0)+2f(0.5)+2f(1)+2f(1.5)+2f(2)+2f(2.5)+2f(3)+2f(3.5)+f(4)]=0.25[(\sqrt{0} \sin\left({0}\right))+2(\sqrt{0.5} \sin\left({0.5}\right))+2(\sqrt{1} \sin\left({1}\right))+2(\sqrt{1.5} \sin\left({1.5}\right))+2(\sqrt{2} \sin\left({2}\right))+2(\sqrt{2.5} \sin\left({2.5}\right))+2(\sqrt{3} \sin\left({3}\right))+2(\sqrt{3.5} \sin\left({3.5}\right))+(\sqrt{4} \sin\left({4}\right))]=1.73287$ For the Midpoint one:
$\Delta x$ is the same.
$M_{8}=0.5[f(\frac{1}{4})+f(\frac{3}{4})+f(\frac{5}{4})+f(\frac{7}{4})+f(\frac{9}{4})+f(\frac{11}{4})+f(\frac{13}{4})+f(\frac{15}{4})]=0.5[(\sqrt{1/4}*\sin\left({1/4}\right))+(\sqrt{3/4}*\sin\left({3/4}\right))+(\sqrt{5/4}*\sin\left({5/4}\right))+(\sqrt{7/4}*\sin\left({7/4}\right))+(\sqrt{9/4}*\sin\left({9/4}\right))+(\sqrt{11/4}*\sin\left({11/4}\right))+(\sqrt{13/4}*\sin\left({13/4}\right))+(\sqrt{15/4}*\sin\left({15/4}\right))]=1.78743$For the Simpsons one:
$\Delta x$ is the same.
$S_{8}=\frac{0.5}{3}[f(0)+4f(0.5)+2f(1)+4f(1.5)+2f(2)+4f(2.5)+2f(3)+4f(3.5)+f(4)]=[(\sqrt{0} \sin\left({0}\right))+4(\sqrt{0.5} \sin\left({0.5}\right))+2(\sqrt{1} \sin\left({1}\right))+4(\sqrt{1.5} \sin\left({1.5}\right))+2(\sqrt{2} \sin\left({2}\right))+4(\sqrt{2.5} \sin\left({2.5}\right))+2(\sqrt{3} \sin\left({3}\right))+4(\sqrt{3.5} \sin\left({3.5}\right))+(\sqrt{4} \sin\left({4}\right))]=1.77214$

i hope that helps
 
Last edited:
ardentmed said:
For question 7a, I used
1/2 * 4/8 [1f(x) + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1.. etc]
and computed 1.732865 as the answer.
I agree.

ardentmed said:
For part b, I used 1/4, 3/4.. (etc.).. up to 15/4 for the midpoints, added the f(x) values of those points together, and divided by four. Oddly enough, I only got 0.893713 this time.
Hint: your answer is two times less than the correct one.

ardentmed said:
Finally, for question 7c, I used
1/3 * 4/8 [1f(x) + 4 + 2+ 4+ 2 + 4.. etc]
and computed 1.719693 as the answer, which is close to the trapezoidal approximation
I got 1.77214.
 
You guys are brilliant. Thanks!
 
There are probably loads of proofs of this online, but I do not want to cheat. Here is my attempt: Convexity says that $$f(\lambda a + (1-\lambda)b) \leq \lambda f(a) + (1-\lambda) f(b)$$ $$f(b + \lambda(a-b)) \leq f(b) + \lambda (f(a) - f(b))$$ We know from the intermediate value theorem that there exists a ##c \in (b,a)## such that $$\frac{f(a) - f(b)}{a-b} = f'(c).$$ Hence $$f(b + \lambda(a-b)) \leq f(b) + \lambda (a - b) f'(c))$$ $$\frac{f(b + \lambda(a-b)) - f(b)}{\lambda(a-b)}...

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