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Lagrange's interpolation formula

Lagrange's interpolation formula noun: a formula which when given a set of n points (x_i,y_i), gives back the unique polynomial of degree (at most) n − 1 in one variable which describes a function passing through those points. The formula is a sum of products, like so: ∑ᵢⁿy_i∏_(j ne i)x-x_j/x_i-x_j. When x=x_i then all terms in the sum other than the iᵗʰ contain a factor x-x_i in the numerator, which becomes equal to zero, thus all terms in the sum other than the iᵗʰ vanish, and the iᵗʰ term has factors x_i-x_j both in the numerator and denominator, which simplify to yield 1, thus the polynomial should return y_i as the function of x_i for any i in the set 1,...,n.

Noun

Lagrange's interpolation formula (uncountable)

  1. A formula which when given a set of n points (x_i,y_i), gives back the unique polynomial of degree (at most) n − 1 in one variable which describes a function passing through those points. The formula is a sum of products, like so: ∑ᵢⁿy_i∏_(j ne i)x-x_j/x_i-x_j. When x=x_i then all terms in the sum other than the iᵗʰ contain a factor x-x_i in the numerator, which becomes equal to zero, thus all terms in the sum other than the iᵗʰ vanish, and the iᵗʰ term has factors x_i-x_j both in the numerator and denominator, which simplify to yield 1, thus the polynomial should return y_i as the function of x_i for any i in the set 1,...,n.

Origin of Lagrange's interpolation formula

Named after Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736–1813), an Italian Enlightenment Era mathematician and astronomer.

Questions about Lagrange's interpolation formula

What does Lagrange's interpolation formula mean?
Lagrange's interpolation formula means a formula which when given a set of n points (x_i,y_i), gives back the unique polynomial of degree (at most) n − 1 in one variable which describes a function passing through those points. The formula is a sum of products, like so: ∑ᵢⁿy_i∏_(j ne i)x-x_j/x_i-x_j. When x=x_i then all terms in the sum other than the iᵗʰ contain a factor x-x_i in the numerator, which becomes equal to zero, thus all terms in the sum other than the iᵗʰ vanish, and the iᵗʰ term has factors x_i-x_j both in the numerator and denominator, which simplify to yield 1, thus the polynomial should return y_i as the function of x_i for any i in the set 1,...,n.
What part of speech is Lagrange's interpolation formula?
Lagrange's interpolation formula is a noun.

Words near Lagrange's interpolation formula in the dictionary

  1. Lagrange polynomial
  2. Lagrange polynomials
  3. Lagrange test
  4. Lagrange's equation
  5. Lagrange's equations
  6. Lagrange's interpolation formula
  7. Lagrange's theorem
  8. Lagrange-d'Alembert principle
  9. Lagrangean
  10. Lagrangeans
  11. Lagranges

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Lagrange's interpolation formula (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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