[Math] Find cubic equation given four points

calculusfunctions

I am working on finding the area of a solid object. I have 4 points that I need to calculate a cubic equation from. I have tried relentlessly but to no avail I always get the wrong answer.

The four points are;(0,2.7) (0.5, 2.9) (1,3.2) (1.9, 3.4)

Using excel, the formula should be;
-0.24728x^3 + 0.57093x^2 + 0.17636x + 2.7

If anyone can provide working out on how you got the equation it would be much obliged! No matrices please just substitution.

Best Answer

Hint: You are given four pairs $(x_i,y_i)$ and you are told $f(x_i)=y_i$ for each pair. So just suppose that $$f(x)=ax^3+bx^2+cx+d$$ Then substitute each pair of numbers into this equation to get four equations in the four unknowns $a$, $b$, $c$, and $d$. Solve the system of equations for these four unknowns and you should get $a=-0.24728$, $b=0.57093$, $c=0.17636$, and $d=2.7$, approximately.

For example, when you substitute the first pair, you get $$2.7=d$$ which is especially nice. I would immediately replace $d$ with $2.7$ in the remaining three equations to get a system of three equations in three unknowns $a$, $b$, and $c$ to solve (now you already have $d$). When you substitute the second pair, and the known value of $ d $, you get $$2.9=(0.5)^3a +(0.5)^2b+0.5c+2.7$$ which can be rewritten as $$0.125a+0.25b+0.5c=0.2$$ and so on.

I suppose you could use this equation to write one of the variable in terms of the remaining two, such as $$c=0.4-0.25a-0.5b.$$

Can you take it from here? Do you need help solving the system of equations?