(i) Write down a Lagrange interpolation polynomial that interpolates between the endpoints zk and zk+1

of a subinterval. The values of the function at the end points are yk and yk+1 . Hint: The general formula
for a Lagrange interpolation polynomial through N+1 data points (xj , yj ) can be expressed

() = ()
=

where the Pj (x) is of the form

() =
=

-
-

(ii) Show by integrating how the formula in (i) can be used to derive a quadrature rule for solving the
following integral
+

()

(iii) If z0 = 0, zN = 1, and f (z) = 11 + z2 with h = zk+1 - zk = 0.1, use the formula in (ii) to evaluate the
integral.

( + )

Suppose you have the following two models

= + +

( + )

and a set of experiments are undertaken to get the following data

ECM6PracticeExam_2016.nb

To determine the parameters ai in the above models you plan to minimize the sum of squared errors.
(i) Write down the formulas for the sum of the squared errors for the two models, using the data in Table
above.
(ii) Derive the equations that you need to solve such that the sum of the squared error is a minimum.
You do not have to solve the equations.
(iii) Explain why the above process is called linear regression for Model 1 and nonlinear regression for
Model 2

(i) The concentration of a pollutant c in a well-mixed lake can be expressed by the following equation:
- -

Given the parameter values V = 1 106 m3 , Q = 1105 m3 yr, W = 1 106 g/hr and
k = 0.25 m1/2 g1/2 hr, use a Newton's method to determine the concentration c in the lake. Hint: at
steady state c lies in the range 2 c 10 g m3
(ii) Suppose instead you had devised the following fixed point iteration schemes to determine the steady
state concentration:
-

()
+ = ( )

()

+ = ( )

Which one, if any, will converge to the result found in (i) using the Newton's method. Explain your
reasoning.

Consider the following function

() = + -

A plot of the function is shown below

ECM6PracticeExam_2016.nb

The roots are p1 = 3.236, p2 = -1.236, p3 = -2.0

Suppose you want to determine the roots of this function using fixed point iteration. Your supervisor
suggests the following iteration scheme:

+ = ( )
-

(i) With x0 = 1, determine the 10th iterate (x10 ) using the above scheme. Which root is your iteration
scheme converging to?
(II) Can you determine all the roots using the proposed iteration scheme? Give a mathematical condition for convergence. Confirm whether or not your mathematical condition for convergence for the 3
roots is satisfied.
(iii) Devise an improved fixed point iteration scheme that will converge to all the roots with a suitable
initial guess. What is the g(x) in this case? Test out your scheme to show that it will converge to root p3
with an initial guess of x0 = 6, and that it satisfies the mathematical condition for convergence stated in
(i).

One method to approximate a definite integral

= ()

is by using a trapezoidal rule:

= ()

() + ( ) + ()
=

The mass that leaves a reactor over a specified time is given by

where t1 and t2 represent the initial and final times, respectively. Use the trapezoidal rule defined above
to determine the mass that leaves the reactor using the following data:


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