Interpolation using polyfit (Matlab) - matlab

Question

My script is supposed to run Runge-Kutta and then interpolate around the tops using polyfit to calculate the max values of the tops. I seem to get the x-values of the max points correct but the y-values are off for some reason. Have sat with it for 3 days now. The problem should be In the last for-loop when I calculate py?
Function:
function funk = FU(t,u)
L0 = 1;
C = 1*10^-6;
funk = [u(2); 2.*u(1).*u(2).^2./(1+u(1).^2) - u(1).*(1+u(1).^2)./(L0.*C)];
Program:
%Runge kutta
clear all
close all
clc
clf
%Given values
U0 = [240 1200 2400];
L0 = 1;
C = 1*10^-6;
T = 0.003;
h = 0.000001;
W = [];
% Runge-Kutta 4
for i = 1:3
u0 = [0;U0(i)];
u = u0;
U = u;
tt = 0:h:T;
for t=tt(1:end-1)
k1 = FU(t,u);
k2 = FU(t+0.5*h,u+0.5*h*k1);
k3 = FU((t+0.5*h),(u+0.5*h*k2));
k4 = FU((t+h),(u+k3*h));
u = u + (1/6)*(k1+2*k2+2*k3+k4)*h;
U = [U u];
end
W = [W;U];
end
I1 = W(1,:); I2 = W(3,:); I3 = W(5,:);
dI1 = W(2,:); dI2 = W(4,:); dI3 = W(6,:);
I = [I1; I2; I3];
dI = [dI1; dI2; dI3];
%Plot of the currents
figure (1)
plot(tt,I1,'r',tt,I2,'b',tt,I3,'g')
hold on
legend('U0 = 240','U0 = 1200','U0 = 2400')
BB = [];
d = 2;
px = [];
py = [];
format short
for l = 1:3
[H,Index(l)]=max(I(l,:));
Area=[(Index(l)-2:Index(l)+2)*h];
p = polyfit(Area,I(Index(l)-2:Index(l)+2),4);
rotp(1,:) = roots([4*p(1),3*p(2),2*p(3),p(4)]);
B = rotp(1,2);
BB = [BB B];
Imax(l,:)=p(1).*B.^4+p(2).*B.^3+p(3).*B.^2+p(4).*B+p(5);
Tsv(i)=4*rotp(1,l);
%px1 = linspace(h*(Index(l)-d-1),h*(Index(l)+d-2));
px1 = BB;
py1 = polyval(p,px1(1,l));
px = [px px1];
py = [py py1];
end
% Plots the max points
figure(1)
plot(px1(1),py(1),'b*-',px1(2),py(2),'b*-',px1(3),py(3),'b*-')
hold on
disp(Imax)

Answer 1

Your polyfit line should read:
p = polyfit(Area,I(l, Index(l)-2:Index(l)+2),4);
More interestingly, take note of the warnings you get about poor conditioning of that polynomial (I presume you're seeing these). Why? Partly because of numerical precision (your numbers are very small, scaled around 10^-6) and partly because you're asking for a 4th-order fit to five points (which is singular). To do this "better", use more input points (more than 5), or a lower-order polynomial fit (quadratic is usually plenty), and (probably) rescale before you use the polyfit tool.
Having said that, in practice this problem is often solved using three points and a quadratic fit, because it's computationally cheap and gives very nearly the same answers as more complex approaches, but you didn't get that from me (with noiseless data like this, it doesn't much matter anyway).