MATLAB: Lagrange interpolation, .m

functionlagrange

can anyone explain me how to use this program
function y=lagrange(x,pointx,pointy)
%




%LAGRANGE approx a point-defined function using the Lagrange polynomial interpolation
%
% LAGRANGE(X,POINTX,POINTY) approx the function definited by the points:
% P1=(POINTX(1),POINTY(1)), P2=(POINTX(2),POINTY(2)), ..., PN(POINTX(N),POINTY(N))
% and calculate it in each elements of X
%
% If POINTX and POINTY have different number of elements the function will return the NaN value
%
% function wrote by: Calzino
% 7-oct-2001
%
n=size(pointx,2);
L=ones(n,size(x,2));
if (size(pointx,2)~=size(pointy,2))
fprintf(1,'\nERROR!\nPOINTX and POINTY must have the same number of elements\n');
y=NaN;
else
for i=1:n
for j=1:n
if (i~=j)
L(i,:)=L(i,:).*(x-pointx(j))/(pointx(i)-pointx(j));
end
end
end
y=0;
for i=1:n
y=y+pointy(i)*L(i,:);
end
end

Best Answer

pointx and pointy are two vectors of data values, x is a vector of points where you want to interpolate. For example:
x = 0:10;
y = x.^2;
xx = linspace(0,10);
yy = lagrange(xx,x,y);
plot(x,y,'o',xx,yy,'.')
As an aside, with no offense intended to Calzino, there are other options available for interpolation. Firstly, of course, interp1 is a standard MATLAB function, with options for linear, cubic spline, and PCHIP interpolation. Cleve Moler (aka The Guy Who Wrote MATLAB) also has a Lagrange interpolation function available for download.
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