TEST 1

QUESTION 1 (CHAPTER 1)

a) Briefly explain the errors in numerical methods, namely the round-off and truncation errors.
[5 marks]

b) Briefly describe the means in practice to reduce the errors described in (a) [5 marks]

c) Quantification of errors is essential in numerical methods, thus allowing us to minimize them to our
needs. Briefly describe the following representation of errors:
a. Percent true relative error
b. Percent approximate relative error [5 marks]

d) In the absence of the true solution, briefly explain how can we use percent relative approximate
errors to justify the accuracy of a numerical solution? [5 marks]

e) Use zero through third order Taylor series expansions to approximate f (3) for

f (x) = 25x
3
6x
2
+ 7x 88

using a base point at x = 1. Compute the true percent relative error for each prediction.
[10 marks]

Solution
a). Round-off error : Error due to approximation in representing exact numbers or quantities
(i.e. due to number approximation chopping & rounding of numbers) [2.5 mark]
Truncation error : Error due to approximation of exact mathematical formulation/procedure
(i.e. due to mathematical approximation) [2.5 mark]

b) Round-off error can be reduced by using more significant figure in calculations. [2 mark]
Truncation errors be reduced by
i. Using more terms in the approximate mathematical reformulation and
ii. Using smaller step size in the approximate method. [3 mark]

c) Percent true relative error ;
i. true error being normalized to the true value to give insight into the order of magnitude to the
error.
ii. State t
iii. State the formula [2.5 mark]
Percent approximate relative error, a ;
i. approximate error being normalized with the approximate value to give insight into the order
of magnitude to the error.
i. State a
ii. State the formula [2.5 mark]

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN MEKANIKAL

Course Code : MEC 500
Course : Numerical Methods with Applications


d) Accuracy of the numerical solution can be expressed as the number of significant figure (SF) used in
the solution. So knowing the number of SF, we can pre-determine the % tolerance from the stopping
criterion. Thus as iterations progress, we will calculate the a and compare it with the % tolerance. When
the % tolerance is satisfied, the approximation is accurate to the desired SF.
[5 mark]

e) True value: f(3) = 554

zero order:

62 ) 1 ( ) 3 ( f f

% 191 . 111 % 100
554
62) ( 554

t


first order:



f (3) 62 f '(1)(31) 62 70(2) 78 % 921 . 85
t


second order:



f (3) 78
f "(1)
2
(31)
2
78
138
2
4 354 % 101 . 36
t


third order:



f (3) 354
f
(3)
(1)
6
(31)
3
354
150
6
8 554
% 0
t

Thus, the third-order result is perfect because the original function is a third-order polynomial.


[10 marks]















QUESTION 2 (CHAPTER 6)

(a) Briefly describe initial-value problems (IVP) and boundary-value problems (BVP).
[5 marks]

(b) Consider the following first-order ODE:
dy = xy x
3
from x = 0 to x = 1.2 with y(0) = 1
dx
Solve using Heuns method with single corrector using h = 0.6.
[10 marks]

(c) Repeat problem in part (b) using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method with h = 0.6.
[15 marks]


Solution

(a) Briefly describe initial-value problems (IVP) and boundary-value problems (BVP).

[5 marks]









Initial-value vs Boundary value Problems


(a) An initial value problem where all the
conditions are specified at the same value
of the independent variable.




(b) A boundary value problem where the
conditions are specified at different values
of the independent variable.

(b)










Or

i x
i
y
i
Predictor,
y
i+1

Corrector,
y
i+1

1 0 1 - -
2 0.6 1 1 1.1152
3 1.2 1.1152 1.3871 1.2321

[10 marks]

(c)







Or

i x
i
y
i
K
1
K
2
K
3
K
4
y
RK

0 0 1 - - - - -
1 0.6 1 0 0.273 0.2976 0.4912 1.1632
2 1.2 1.1632 0.49192 0.4507 0.4392 -0.01596 1.389

[15 marks]