Linear regression with least squares for quadratic function

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Homework Statement


We want to determine the coefficients of a polynomial of the form:

##p(x)=c_{1}x^2 +c_{2}x+c_{3}##The polynomial ##p(x)## must satisfy the constraint ##p(1)=1##.

We would also like ##p(x)## to satisfy the following 4 constraints:

##p(−1)=5##

##p(0)=−1##

##p(2)=6##

##p(3)=12##However, this is not possible, since the system of equations is over-determined. Instead, we wish to minimize the error, ##E##, as shown below, using least squares.

##E = (p(-1)-5)^2 +(p(0)+1)^2 +(p(2)-6)^2 +(p(3)-12)^2##

part 1
Solve for ##c_{3}## in terms of ##c_{1}## and ##c_{2}## such that the constraint, ##p(1)=1##, holds. Which of the following expressions is ##c_{3}## equal to?

part 2
If you substitute the expression for ##c_{3}## into the polynomial, ##p(x)##, what is the new polynomial?

part 3
Put the new polynomial and the 4 constraints you would like to satisfy into the ##Az=b## form where ##x = \left[ \begin{array}{c} c_1 \\ c_2 \end{array} \right]## . Using Matlab find the least squares solution of this system of equations. What is the value for ##x##?

Homework Equations


The Attempt at a Solution


I am having a lot of difficulty parsing this problem. I don't really understand what to do. The equation must satisfy ##p(1) = 1## and we attempt to satisfy the following

##p(-1) = 5##
##p(0) = -1##
##p(2) = 6##
##p(3) = 12##

Since one of the equations must be satisfied, and the other ones are ''try our best to satisfy'', I don't know how to set up a least square to solve this. Do I not include the one that must be satisfied, or include all? How do I make it so that it guarantees that specific one to be satisfied, but the other ones don't have to be. Very confused about this. Even how to set up ## c_{3}## in terms of ##c_{1}## and ##c_{2}##.
##E =min \underset x \in \mathbb R] \hspace{0.05 in} \|\left[ \begin{array}{x} 1 & -1 & 1 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 4 & 2 & 1 \\ 9 & 3 & 1 \end{array} \right] \left[\begin{array}{c} c_{1} \\ c_{2} \\ c_{3} \end{array} \right] - \left[\begin{array}{y} 5 \\ -1 \\ 6 \\ 12 \end{array} \right]\|##

how do I get the x is an element of R to be under the min?? And taller || to show that it is the norm
 

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Maylis said:

Homework Statement


We want to determine the coefficients of a polynomial of the form:

##p(x)=c_{1}x^2 +c_{2}x+c_{3}##

The polynomial ##p(x)## must satisfy the constraint ##p(1)=1##.

We would also like ##p(x)## to satisfy the following 4 constraints:

##p(−1)=5##

##p(0)=−1##

##p(2)=6##

##p(3)=12##


However, this is not possible, since the system of equations is over-determined. Instead, we wish to minimize the error, ##E##, as shown below, using least squares.

##E = (p(-1)-5)^2 +(p(0)+1)^2 +(p(2)-6)^2 +(p(3)-12)^2] E=(p(−1)−5)2+(p(0)+1)2+(p(2)−6)2+(p(3)−12)2##
I take it there's a typo in the above line & it should read:
##E = (p(-1)-5)^2 +(p(0)+1)^2 +(p(2)-6)^2 +(p(3)-12)^2 \ .##​
part 1
Solve for ##c_{3}## in terms of ##c_{1}## and ##c_{2}## such that the constraint, ##p(1)=1##, holds. Which of the following expressions is ##c_{3}## equal to?

part 2
If you substitute the expression for ##c_{3}## into the polynomial, ##p(x)##, what is the new polynomial?

part 3
Put the new polynomial and the 4 constraints you would like to satisfy into the ##Az=b## form where ##x = \left[ \begin{array}{c} c_1 \\ c_2 \end{array} \right]## . Using Matlab find the least squares solution of this system of equations. What is the value for##x##?


Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


I am having a lot of difficulty parsing this problem. I don't really understand what to do. The equation must satisfy ##p(1) = 1## and we attempt to satisfy the following

##p(-1) = 5##
##p(0) = -1##
##p(2) = 6##
##p(3) = 12##

Since one of the equations must be satisfied, and the other ones are ''try our best to satisfy'', I don't know how to set up a least square to solve this. Do I not include the one that must be satisfied, or include all? How do I make it so that it guarantees that specific one to be satisfied, but the other ones don't have to be. Very confused about this. Even how to set up ## c_{3}## in terms of ##c_{1}## and ##c_{2}##.
##E =min \underset x \in \mathbb R] \hspace{0.05 in} \|\left[ \begin{array}{x} 1 & -1 & 1 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 4 & 2 & 1 \\ 9 & 3 & 1 \end{array} \right] \left[\begin{array}{c} c_{1} \\ c_{2} \\ c_{3} \end{array} \right] - \left[\begin{array}{y} 5 \\ -1 \\ 6 \\ 12 \end{array} \right]\|##

how do I get the x is an element of R to be under the min?? And taller || to show that it is the norm
Have you answered parts 1 & 2?

They seem pretty straight forward.

What is p(1) ? Substitute 1 in for x in ##c_1x^2+c_2x+c_3\ .##
 
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Okay, when I saw all that business about one having to be satisfied and the other not, it got me way confused. I now did part 1 and 2. It temporarily disoriented me until I saw your post about it being trivial.

I got my function into the form with the substitution

##p(x) = c_{1}(x^2-1) + c_{2}(x-1) + 1##

Here is part 3. The way I thought about it was that there should be an array in the form ##Ax = b##

Then I set it up, keeping in mind that I moved the 1 to the right hand side of the equation,
##\left [\begin{array}{x} x_{1}^2 -1 & x_{1}-1 \\ x_{2}^2 -1 & x_{2}-1 \\ x_{3}^2 -1 & x_{3}-1 \\ x_{4}^2 -1 & x_{4}-1 \end{array} \right] \left[\begin{array}{c} c_{1} \\ c_{2} \end{array} \right] = b - 1##
Code:
 A = [0 -2; -1 -1; 3 1; 8 2]
b = [5; -1; 6; 12];
x = A\(b-1);

I got it now, the wording totally disoriented me though so I didn't know what to do.
 
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What I don't get is how is this linear regression? All I did for this problem was what I did in the last module, least squares. With matlab, does it automatically calculate the least squares when I do A\b? Also, why was the equation for E never used??
 
Last edited:
Maylis said:
With matlab, does it automatically calculate the least squares when I do A\b?

Yes, that's exactly what the \ operator does.

If A is a square nonsingular matrix, the "least squares" solution is the same as an "ordinary" equation solution, so you can also use the \ operator to solve problems that don't have anything to do with least squares.

If you want to minimize ##E = ||Ax - b||##, one way to do it is explicitly form the equations ##(A^TA)x = (A^Tb)## and solve them. If you solved least squares problems by hand, that's probably how you did it. Conceptually that is what the Matlab \ operator does, but it actually uses a different numerical method which is faster and avoids problems with rounding errors, etc.
 
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Likes 1 person
Maylis said:
What I don't get is how is this linear regression? All I did for this problem was what I did in the last module, least squares. With matlab, does it automatically calculate the least squares when I do A\b? Also, why was the equation for E never used??

It's called linear because the expression you're fitting is linear in the parameters that you determine, in this case, the c1 and c2 .
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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