Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In mathematics, divided differences is an algorithm, historically used for computing tables of logarithms and trigonometric functions. [citation needed] Charles Babbage's difference engine, an early mechanical calculator, was designed to use this algorithm in its operation. [1] Divided differences is a recursive division process.
The simplest method is to use finite difference approximations. A simple two-point estimation is to compute the slope of a nearby secant line through the points (x, f(x)) and (x + h, f(x + h)). [1] Choosing a small number h, h represents a small change in x, and it can be either positive or negative.
Given n + 1 points, there is a unique polynomial of degree ≤ n which goes through the given points. Neville's algorithm evaluates this polynomial. Neville's algorithm evaluates this polynomial. Neville's algorithm is based on the Newton form of the interpolating polynomial and the recursion relation for the divided differences .
In an analogous way, one can obtain finite difference approximations to higher order derivatives and differential operators. For example, by using the above central difference formula for f ′(x + h / 2 ) and f ′(x − h / 2 ) and applying a central difference formula for the derivative of f ′ at x, we obtain the central difference approximation of the second derivative of f:
For example, consider the ordinary differential equation ′ = + The Euler method for solving this equation uses the finite difference quotient (+) ′ to approximate the differential equation by first substituting it for u'(x) then applying a little algebra (multiplying both sides by h, and then adding u(x) to both sides) to get (+) + (() +).
An illustration of the five-point stencil in one and two dimensions (top, and bottom, respectively). In numerical analysis, given a square grid in one or two dimensions, the five-point stencil of a point in the grid is a stencil made up of the point itself together with its four "neighbors".
A new long-acting preventive HIV drug could reach the world’s poorest countries by the end of 2025 or early 2026, a global health official told Reuters on Tuesday. The ambition is to start ...
The most attractive feature of finite differences is that it is straightforward to implement. [22] One could consider the FDM a particular case of the FEM approach in several ways. E.g., first-order FEM is identical to FDM for Poisson's equation if the problem is discretized by a regular rectangular mesh with each rectangle divided into two ...