I have this code for the Composite Simpson's Rule. However, I have been fiddling with it for quite a while and I can't seem to get it to work.
How can I fix this algorithm?
function out = Sc2(func,a,b,N)
% Sc(func,a,b,N)
% This function calculates the integral of func on the interval [a,b]
% using the Composite Simpson's rule with N subintervals.
x=linspace(a,b,N+1);
% Partition [a,b] into N subintervals
fx=func(x);
h=(b-a)/(2*N);
%define for odd and even sums
sum_even = 0;
for i = 1:N-1
x(i) = a + (2*i-2)*h;
sum_even = sum_even + func(x(i));
end
sum_odd = 0;
for i = 1:N+1
x(i) = a + (2*i-1)*h;
sum_odd = sum_odd + func(x(i));
end
% Define the length of a subinterval
out=(h/3)*(fx(1)+ 2*sum_even + 4*sum_odd +fx(end));
% Apply the composite Simpsons rule
end
Well for one thing, your h definition is wrong. h stands for the step size of each interval you want to estimate. You are unnecessarily dividing by 2. Remove that 2 in your h definition. You also are evaluating your function at the values of n not x. You should probably remove this statement because you end up not using this in the end.
Also, you are summing from 1 to N+1 or from 1 to N-1 for either the odd or even values, This is incorrect. Remember, you are choosing every other value in an odd interval, or even interval, so this should really be looping from 1 to N/2 - 1. To escape figuring out what to multiply i with, just skip this and make your loop go in steps of 2. That's besides the point though.
I would recommend that you don't loop over and add up the values for the odd and even intervals that way. You can easily do that by specifying the odd or even values of x and just applying a sum. I would use the colon operator and specify a step size of 2 to exactly determine which values of x for odd or even you want to apply to the overall sum.
You also are declaring x to be your n-point interval, yet you are overwriting those values in your loops. You actually don't need that x declaration in your code in that case.
As such, here's a modified version of your function with the optimizations I have in mind:
function out = Sc2(func, a, b, N)
h = (b – a) / N; %// Width of each interval
odd = 1 : 2 : n-1; %// Define odd interval
xodd = a + h*odd; %// Create odd x values
even = 2 : 2 : n-2; %// Create even interval
xeven = a + h*even; % Create even x values
%// Return area
out = (h/3)*(func(a) + 4*sum(func(xodd)) + 2*sum(func(xeven))+ func(b));
However, if you want to get your code working, you simply have to change your for loop iteration limits as well as your value of h. You also have to remove some lines of code, and change some variable names. Therefore:
function out = Sc2(func,a,b,N)
% Sc(func,a,b,N)
% This function calculates the integral of func on the interval [a,b]
% using the Composite Simpson's rule with N subintervals.
%// Define width of each segment
h = (b - a) / N; %// Change
%//define for odd and even sums
sum_even = 0;
for i = 2 : 2 : N-2 %// Change
x = a + i*h; %// Change
sum_even = sum_even + func(x);
end
sum_odd = 0;
for i = 1 : 2 : N-1 %// Change
x = a + i*h %// Change
sum_odd = sum_odd + func(x);
end
%// Output area
out = (h / 3)*(func(a) + 2*sum_even + 4*sum_odd + func(b)); %// Change
end
Related
Suppose I have three matrices A_1, A_2, A_3 each of dimension mxn, where m and n are large. These matrices contain strictly positive numbers.
I want to construct a matrix check of dimension mx1 such that, for each i=1,...,m:
check(i)=1 if there exists j,k such that
A_1(i,1)+A_2(j,1)+A_3(k,1)<=quantile(A_1(i,2:end)+A_2(j,2:end)+A_3(k,3:end), 0.95)
In my case m is large (m=10^5) and n=500. Therefore, I would like your help to find an efficient way to do this.
Below I reproduce an example. I impose m smaller than in reality and report my incomplete and probably inefficient attempt to construct check.
clear
rng default
m=4;
n=500;
A_1=betarnd(1,2,m,n);
A_2=betarnd(1,2,m,n);
A_3=betarnd(1,2,m,n);
check=zeros(m,1);
for i=1:m
for j=1:m
for k=1:m
if A_1(i,1)+A_2(j,1)+A_3(k,1)<=quantile(A_1(i,2:end)+A_2(j,2:end)+A_3(k,2:end), 0.95)
check(i)=1;
STOP TO LOOP OVER j AND k, MOVE TO THE NEXT i (INCOMPLETE!)
else
KEEP SEARCHING FOR j,k SUCH THAT THE CONDITION IS SATISFIED (INCOMPLETE!)
end
end
end
end
Given a scalar x and a vector v the expression x <=quantile (v, .95) can be written as sum( x > v) < Q where Q = .95 * numel(v) *.
Also A_1 can be splitted before the loop to avoid extra indexing.
Moreover the most inner loop can be removed in favor of vectorization.
Af_1 = A_1(:,1);
Af_2 = A_2(:,1);
Af_3 = A_3(:,1);
As_1 = A_1(:,2:end);
As_2 = A_2(:,2:end);
As_3 = A_3(:,2:end);
Q = .95 * (n -1);
for i=1:m
for j=1:m
if any (sum (Af_1(i) + Af_2(j) + Af_3 > As_1(i,:) + As_2(j,:) + As_3, 2) < Q)
check(i) = 1;
break;
end
end
end
More optimization can be achieved by rearranging the expressions involved in the inequality and pre-computation:
lhs = A_3(:,1) - A_3(:,2:end);
lhsi = A_1(:,1) - A_1(:,2:end);
rhsj = A_2(:,2:end) - A_2(:,1);
Q = .95 * (n - 1);
for i=1:m
LHS = lhs + lhsi(i,:);
for j=1:m
if any (sum (LHS > rhsj(j,:), 2) < Q)
check(i) = 1;
break;
end
end
end
Note that because of the method that is used in the computation of quantile you may get a slightly different result.
Option 1:
Because all numbers are positive, you can do some optimizations. 95 percentile will be only higher if you add A1 to the mix - if you find the j and k of greatest 95 percentile of A2+A3 on the right side compared to the sum of the first 2 elements, you can simply take that for every i.
maxDif = -inf;
for j = 1 : m
for k = 1 : m
newDif = quantile(A_2..., 0.95) - A_2(j,1)-A_3(k,1);
maxDif = max(newDif, maxDif);
end
end
If even that is too slow, you can first get maxDifA2 and maxDifA3, then estimate that maxDif will be for those particular j and k values and calculate it.
Now, for some numbers you will get that maxDif > A_1, then the check is 1. For some numbers you will get that maxDif + quantile(A1, 0.95) < A_1, here check is 0 (if you estimated maxDif by separate calculation of A2 and A3 this isn't true!). For some (most?) you will unfortunately get values in between and this won't be helpful at all. Then what remains is option 2 (it is also more straightforward):
Option 2:
You could save some time if you can save summation A_2+A_3 on the right side, as that calculation repeats for every different i, but that requires A LOT of memory. But quantile is the more expensive operation anyway, so you aren't saving a lot of time. Something along the lines of
for j = 1 : m
for k = 1 : m
A23R(j,k,:) = A2(j,:)+A3(k,:); % Unlikely to fit in memory.
end
end
Then you can perform your loops, using A23R and avoiding to repeat that sum for every i.
I must write using Laguerre's method a piece of code to find the real and complex roots of poly:
P=X^5-5*X^4-6*X^3+6*X^2-3*X+1
I have little doubt. I did the algorithm in the matlab, but 3 out of 5 roots are the same and I don't think that is correct.
syms X %Declearing x as a variabl
P=X^5-5*X^4-6*X^3+6*X^2-3*X+1; %Equation we interest to solve
n=5; % The eq. order
Pd1 = diff(P,X,1); % first differitial of f
Pd2 = diff(P,X,2); %second differitial of f
err=0.00001; %Answear tollerance
N=100; %Max. # of Iterations
x(1)=1e-3; % Initial Value
for k=1:N
G=double(vpa(subs(Pd1,X,x(k))/subs(P,X,x(k))));
H=G^2 - double(subs(Pd2,X,x(k))) /subs(P,X,x(k));
D1= (G+sqrt((n-1)*(n*H-G^2)));
D2= (G-sqrt((n-1)*(n*H-G^2)));
D = max(D1,D2);
a=n/D;
x(k+1)=x(k)-a
Err(k) = abs(x(k+1)-x(k));
if Err(k) <=err
break
end
end
output (roots of polynomial):
x =
0.0010 + 0.0000i 0.1434 + 0.4661i 0.1474 + 0.4345i 0.1474 + 0.4345i 0.1474 + 0.4345i
What you actually see are all the values x(k) which arose in the loop. The last one, 0.1474 + 0.4345i is the end result of this loop - the approximation of the root which is in your given tolerance threshold. The code
syms X %Declaring x as a variable
P = X^5 - 5 * X^4 - 6 * X^3 + 6 * X^2 - 3 * X + 1; %Polynomial
n=5; %Degree of the polynomial
Pd1 = diff(P,X,1); %First derivative of P
Pd2 = diff(P,X,2); %Second derivative of P
err = 0.00001; %Answer tolerance
N = 100; %Maximal number of iterations
x(1) = 0; %Initial value
for k = 1:N
G = double(vpa(subs(Pd1,X,x(k)) / subs(P,X,x(k))));
H = G^2 - double(subs(Pd2,X,x(k))) / subs(P,X,x(k));
D1 = (G + sqrt((n-1) * (n * H-G^2)));
D2 = (G - sqrt((n-1) * (n * H-G^2)));
D = max(D1,D2);
a = n/D;
x(k+1) = x(k) - a;
Err(k) = abs(x(k+1)-x(k));
if Err(k) <=err
fprintf('Initial value %f, result %f%+fi', x(1), real(x(k)), imag(x(k)))
break
end
end
results in
Initial value -2.000000, result -1.649100+0.000000i
If you want to get other roots, you have to use other initial values. For example one can obtain
Initial value 10.000000, result 5.862900+0.000000i
Initial value -2.000000, result -1.649100+0.000000i
Initial value 3.000000, result 0.491300+0.000000i
Initial value 0.000000, result 0.147400+0.434500i
Initial value 1.000000, result 0.147400-0.434500i
These are all zeros of the polynomial.
A method for calculating the next root when you have found another one would be that you divide through the corresponding linear factor and use your loop for the resulting new polynomial. Note that this is in general not very easy to handle since rounding errors can have a big influence on the result.
Problems with the existing code
You do not implement the Laguerre method properly as a method in complex numbers. The denominator candidates D1,D2 are in general complex numbers, it is inadvisable to use the simple max which only has sensible results for real inputs. The aim is to have a=n/D be the smaller of both variants, so that one has to look for the D in [D1,D2] with the larger absolute value. If there were a conditional assignment as in C, this would look like
D = (abs(D_1)>abs(D2)) ? D1 : D2;
As that does not exist, one has to use commands with a similar result
D = D1; if (abs(D_1)<abs(D2)) D=D2; end
The resulting sequence of approximation points is
x(0) = 0.0010000
x(1) = 0.143349512707684+0.466072958423667i
x(2) = 0.164462212064089+0.461399841949893i
x(3) = 0.164466373475316+0.461405404094130i
There is a point where one can not expect the (residual) polynomial value at the root approximation to substantially decrease. The value close to zero is obtained by adding and subtracting rather large terms in the sum expression of the polynomial. The accuracy lost in these catastrophic cancellation events can not be recovered.
The threshold for polynomial values that are effectively zero can be estimated as the machine constant of the double type times the polynomial value where all coefficients and the evaluation point are replaced by their absolute values. This test serves in the code primarily to avoid divisions by zero or near-zero.
Finding all roots
One approach is to apply the method to a sufficiently large number of initial points along some circle containing all the roots, with some strict rules for early termination at too slow convergence. One would have to make the list of the roots found unique, but keep the multiplicity,...
The other standard method is to apply deflation, that is, divide out the linear factor of the root found. This works well in low degrees.
There is no need for the slower symbolic operations as there are functions that work directly on the coefficient array, such as polyval and polyder. Deflation by division with remainder can be achieved using the deconv function.
For real polynomials, we know that the complex conjugate of a root is also a root. Thus initialize the next iteration with the deflated polynomial with it.
Other points:
There is no point in the double conversions as at no point there is a conversion into the single type.
If you don't do anything with it, it makes no sense to create an array, especially not for Err.
Roots of the example
Implementing all this I get a log of
x(0) = 0.001000000000000+0.000000000000000i, |Pn(x(0))| = 0.99701
x(1) = 0.143349512707684+0.466072958423667i, |dx|= 0.48733
x(2) = 0.164462212064089+0.461399841949893i, |dx|=0.021624
x(3) = 0.164466373475316+0.461405404094130i, |dx|=6.9466e-06
root found x=0.164466373475316+0.461405404094130i with value P0(x)=-2.22045e-16+9.4369e-16i
Deflation
x(0) = 0.164466373475316-0.461405404094130i, |Pn(x(0))| = 2.1211e-15
root found x=0.164466373475316-0.461405404094130i with value P0(x)=-2.22045e-16-9.4369e-16i
Deflation
x(0) = 0.164466373475316+0.461405404094130i, |Pn(x(0))| = 4.7452
x(1) = 0.586360702193454+0.016571894375927i, |dx|= 0.61308
x(2) = 0.562204173408499+0.000003168181059i, |dx|=0.029293
x(3) = 0.562204925474889+0.000000000000000i, |dx|=3.2562e-06
root found x=0.562204925474889+0.000000000000000i with value P0(x)=2.22045e-16-1.33554e-17i
Deflation
x(0) = 0.562204925474889-0.000000000000000i, |Pn(x(0))| = 7.7204
x(1) = 3.332994579372812-0.000000000000000i, |dx|= 2.7708
root found x=3.332994579372812-0.000000000000000i with value P0(x)=6.39488e-14-3.52284e-15i
Deflation
x(0) = 3.332994579372812+0.000000000000000i, |Pn(x(0))| = 5.5571
x(1) = -2.224132251798332+0.000000000000000i, |dx|= 5.5571
root found x=-2.224132251798332+0.000000000000000i with value P0(x)=-3.33067e-14+1.6178e-15i
for the modified code
P = [1, -2, -6, 6, -3, 1];
P0 = P;
deg=length(P)-1; % The eq. degree
err=1e-05; %Answer tolerance
N=10; %Max. # of Iterations
x=1e-3; % Initial Value
for n=deg:-1:1
dP = polyder(P); % first derivative of P
d2P = polyder(dP); %second derivative of P
fprintf("x(0) = %.15f%+.15fi, |Pn(x(0))| = %8.5g\n", real(x),imag(x), abs(polyval(P,x)));
for k=1:N
Px = polyval(P,x);
dPx = polyval(dP,x);
d2Px = polyval(d2P,x);
if abs(Px) < 1e-14*polyval(abs(P),abs(x))
break % if value is zero in relative accuracy
end
G = dPx/Px;
H=G^2 - d2Px / Px;
D1= (G+sqrt((n-1)*(n*H-G^2)));
D2= (G-sqrt((n-1)*(n*H-G^2)));
D = D1;
if abs(D2)>abs(D1) D=D2; end % select the larger denominator
a=n/D;
x=x-a;
fprintf("x(%d) = %.15f%+.15fi, |dx|=%8.5g\n",k,real(x),imag(x), abs(a));
if abs(a) < err*(err+abs(x))
break
end
end
y = polyval(P0,x); % check polynomial value of the original polynomial
fprintf("root found x=%.15f%+.15fi with value P0(x)=%.6g%+.6gi\n", real(x),imag(x),real(y),imag(y));
disp("Deflation");
[ P,R ] = deconv(P,[1,-x]); % division with remainder
x = conj(x); % shortcut for conjugate pairs and clustered roots
end
I am trying to implement a simplex algorithm following the rules I was given at my optimization course. The problem is
min c'*x s.t.
Ax = b
x >= 0
All vectors are assumes to be columns, ' denotes the transpose. The algorithm should also return the solution to dual LP. The rules to follow are:
Here, A_J denotes columns from A with indices in J and x_J, x_K denotes elements of vector x with indices in J or K respectively. Vector a_s is column s of matrix A.
Now I do not understand how this algorithm takes care of condition x >= 0, but I decided to give it a try and follow it step by step. I used Matlab for this and got the following code.
X = zeros(n, 1);
Y = zeros(m, 1);
% i. Choose starting basis J and K = {1,2,...,n} \ J
J = [4 5 6] % for our problem
K = setdiff(1:n, J)
% this while is for goto
while 1
% ii. Solve system A_J*\bar{x}_J = b.
xbar = A(:,J) \ b
% iii. Calculate value of criterion function with respect to current x_J.
fval = c(J)' * xbar
% iv. Calculate dual solution y from A_J^T*y = c_J.
y = A(:,J)' \ c(J)
% v. Calculate \bar{c}^T = c_K^T - u^T A_K. If \bar{c}^T >= 0, we have
% found the optimal solution. If not, select the smallest s \in K, such
% that c_s < 0. Variable x_s enters basis.
cbar = c(K)' - c(J)' * inv(A(:,J)) * A(:,K)
cbar = cbar'
tmp = findnegative(cbar)
if tmp == -1 % we have found the optimal solution since cbar >= 0
X(J) = xbar;
Y = y;
FVAL = fval;
return
end
s = findnegative(c, K) %x_s enters basis
% vi. Solve system A_J*\bar{a} = a_s. If \bar{a} <= 0, then the problem is
% unbounded.
abar = A(:,J) \ A(:,s)
if findpositive(abar) == -1 % we failed to find positive number
disp('The problem is unbounded.')
return;
end
% vii. Calculate v = \bar{x}_J / \bar{a} and find the smallest rho \in J,
% such that v_rho > 0. Variable x_rho exits basis.
v = xbar ./ abar
rho = J(findpositive(v))
% viii. Update J and K and goto ii.
J = setdiff(J, rho)
J = union(J, s)
K = setdiff(K, s)
K = union(K, rho)
end
Functions findpositive(x) and findnegative(x, S) return the first index of positive or negative value in x. S is the set of indices, over which we look at. If S is omitted, whole vector is checked. Semicolons are omitted for debugging purposes.
The problem I tested this code on is
c = [-3 -1 -3 zeros(1,3)];
A = [2 1 1; 1 2 3; 2 2 1];
A = [A eye(3)];
b = [2; 5; 6];
The reason for zeros(1,3) and eye(3) is that the problem is inequalities and we need slack variables. I have set starting basis to [4 5 6] because the notes say that starting basis should be set to slack variables.
Now, what happens during execution is that on first run of while, variable with index 1 enters basis (in Matlab, indices go from 1 on) and 4 exits it and that is reasonable. On the second run, 2 enters the basis (since it is the smallest index such that c(idx) < 0 and 1 leaves it. But now on the next iteration, 1 enters basis again and I understand why it enters, because it is the smallest index, such that c(idx) < 0. But here the looping starts. I assume that should not have happened, but following the rules I cannot see how to prevent this.
I guess that there has to be something wrong with my interpretation of the notes but I just cannot see where I am wrong. I also remember that when we solved LP on the paper, we were updating our subjective function on each go, since when a variable entered basis, we removed it from the subjective function and expressed that variable in subj. function with the expression from one of the equalities, but I assume that is different algorithm.
Any remarks or help will be highly appreciated.
The problem has been solved. Turned out that the point 7 in the notes was wrong. Instead, point 7 should be
I'd like to create an anonymous function that does something like this:
n = 5;
x = linspace(-4,4,1000);
f = #(x,a,b,n) a(1)*exp(b(1)^2*x.^2) + a(2)*exp(b(2)^2*x.^2) + ... a(n)*exp(b(n)^2*x.^2);
I can do this as such, without passing explicit parameter n:
f1 = #(x,a,b) a(1)*exp(-b(1)^2*x.^2);
for j = 2:n
f1 = #(x,a,b) f1(x,a,b) + a(j)*exp(b(j)^2*x.^2);
end
but it seems, well, kind of hacky. Does someone have a better solution for this? I'd like to know how someone else would treat this.
Your hacky solution is definitely not the best, as recursive function calls in MATLAB are not very efficient, and you can quickly run into the maximum recursion depth (500 by default).
You can introduce a new dimension along which you can sum up your arrays a and b. Assuming that x, a and b are row vectors:
f = #(x,a,b,n) a(1:n)*exp((b(1:n).^2).'*x.^2)
This will use the first dimension as summing dimension: (b(1:n).^2).' is a column vector, which produces a matrix when multiplied by x (this is a dyadic product, to be precise). The resulting n * length(x) matrix can be multiplied by a(1:n), since the latter is a matrix of size [1,n]. This vector-matrix product will also perform the summation for us.
Mini-proof:
n = 5;
x = linspace(-4,4,1000);
a = rand(1,10);
b = rand(1,10);
y = 0;
for k=1:n
y = y + a(k)*exp(b(k)^2*x.^2);
end
y2 = a(1:n)*exp((b(1:n).^2).'*x.^2); %'
all(abs(y-y2))<1e-10
The last command returns 1, so the two are essentially identical.
I'm basicaly trying to find the product of an expression that goes like this:
(x-(N-1)/2).....(x+(N-1)/2) for even value of N
x is a value that I will set at the beginning that changes too but that is a different problem...
let's say for the sake of argument that for now x is a constant (ex x=1)
example for N=6
(x-5/2)(x-3/2)(x-1/2)(x+1/2)(x+3/2)*(x+5/2)
the idea was to create a row vector every element of which is each individual term (P(1)=x-5/2) (P(2)=x-3/2)...etc and then calculate its product
N=6;
x=1;
P=ones(1,N);
for k=(-N-1)/2:(N-1)/2
for n=1:N
P(n)=(x-k);
end
end
y=prod(P);
instead this creates a vector that takes only the first value of the epxression and then
repeats the same value at each cell.
there is obviously a fundamental problem with my loop but I just can't see it.
So if anyone can help with that OR suggest a better way to calculate the product I would be grateful.
Use vectorized commands
Why use a loop when you can use vectorized commands like prod?
y = prod(2 * x + [-N + 1 : 2 : N - 1]) / 2;
For convenience, you may want to define an anonymous function for it:
f = #(N,x) reshape(prod(bsxfun(#plus, 2 * x(:), -N + 1 : 2 : N - 1) / 2, 2), size(x));
Note that the function is compatible with a (row or column) vector input x.
Tests in MATLAB's Command Window
>> f(6, [2,2]')
ans =
-14.7656
4.9219
-3.5156
4.9219
-14.7656
>> f(6, [2,2])
ans =
-14.7656 4.9219 -3.5156 4.9219 -14.7656
Benchmark
Here is a comparison of rayreng's approach versus mine. The former emerges as the clear winner... :'( ...at least as N increases.
Varying N, fixed x
Fixed N (= 10), vector x of varying length
Fixed N (= 100), vector x of varying length
Benchmark code
function benchmark
% varying N, fixed x
clear all
n = logspace(2,4,20)';
x = rand(1000,1);
tr = zeros(size(n));
tj = tr;
for k = 1 : numel(n)
% rayreng's approach (poly/polyval)
fr = #() rayreng(n(k), x);
tr(k) = timeit(fr);
% Jubobs's approach (prod/reshape/bsxfun)
fj = #() jubobs(n(k), x);
tj(k) = timeit(fj);
end
figure
hold on
plot(n, tr, 'bo')
plot(n, tj, 'ro')
hold off
xlabel('N')
ylabel('time (s)')
legend('rayreng', 'jubobs')
end
function y = jubobs(N,x)
y = reshape(prod(bsxfun(#plus,...
2 * x(:),...
-N + 1 : 2 : N - 1) / 2,...
2),...
size(x));
end
function y = rayreng(N, x)
p = poly(linspace(-(N-1)/2, (N-1)/2, N));
y = polyval(p, x);
end
function benchmark2
% fixed N, varying x
clear all
n = 100;
nx = round(logspace(2,4,20));
tr = zeros(size(n));
tj = tr;
for k = 1 : numel(nx)
disp(k)
x = rand(nx(k), 1);
% rayreng's approach (poly/polyval)
fr = #() rayreng(n, x);
tr(k) = timeit(fr);
% Jubobs's approach (prod/reshape/bsxfun)
fj = #() jubobs(n, x);
tj(k) = timeit(fj);
end
figure
hold on
plot(nx, tr, 'bo')
plot(nx, tj, 'ro')
hold off
xlabel('number of elements in vector x')
ylabel('time (s)')
legend('rayreng', 'jubobs')
title(['n = ' num2str(n)])
end
function y = jubobs(N,x)
y = reshape(prod(bsxfun(#plus,...
2 * x(:),...
-N + 1 : 2 : N - 1) / 2,...
2),...
size(x));
end
function y = rayreng(N, x)
p = poly(linspace(-(N-1)/2, (N-1)/2, N));
y = polyval(p, x);
end
An alternative
Alternatively, because the terms in your product form an arithmetic progression (each term is greater than the previous one by 1/2), you can use the formula for the product of an arithmetic progression.
I agree with #Jubobs in that you should avoid using for loops for this kind of computation. There are cases where for loops perform fast, but for something as simple as this, avoid using loops if possible.
An alternative approach to what Jubobs has suggested is that you can consider that polynomial equation to be in factored form where each factor denotes a root located at that particular location. You can use poly to convert these factors into a polynomial equation, then use polyval to evaluate the expression at the point you want. First, generate your roots by linspace where the points vary from -(N-1)/2 to (N-1)/2 and there are N of them, then plug this into poly. Finally, for any values of x, put this into polyval with the output of poly. The advantage of this approach is that you can evaluate multiple points of x in a single sweep.
Going with what you have, you would simply do this:
p = poly(linspace(-(N-1)/2, (N-1)/2, N));
out = polyval(p, x);
With your example, supposing that N = 6, this would be the output of the first line:
p =
1.0000 0 -8.7500 0 16.1875 0 -3.5156
As such, this is saying that when we expand out (x-5/2)(x-3/2)(x-1/2)(x+1/2)(x+3/2)(x+5/2), we get:
x^6 - 8.75x^4 + 16.1875x^2 - 3.5156
If we take a look at the roots of this equation, this is what we get:
r = roots(p)
r =
-2.5000
2.5000
-1.5000
1.5000
-0.5000
0.5000
As you can see, each term corresponds to one factor in your polynomial equation, so we do have the right mindset here. Now, all you have to do is use p with your values of x into polyval to obtain your results. For example, if I wanted to evaluate that polynomial from -2 <= x <= 2 where x is an integer, this is the result I get:
polyval(p, -2:2)
ans =
-14.7656 4.9219 -3.5156 4.9219 -14.7656
Therefore, when x = -2, the result is -14.7656 and so on.
Though I would recommend the solution by #Jubobs, it is also good to check what the issue is with your loop.
The first indication that something is wrong, is that you have a nested loop over 2 variables, and only index with one of them to store the result. Probably you just need a single loop.
Here is a loop that you may be interested in that should do roughly what you need:
N=6;
x=1;
k=(-N-1)/2:(N-1)/2
P = ones(size(k));
for n=1:numel(k)
P(n)=(x-k(n));
end
y=prod(P);
I tried to keep the code close to the original, so hopefully it is easy to understand.