Zeliha Kilic

MATH 761 Homework 2

Question 1. If w is continuous on [0, 1], and
v V = {v|v

R1
0

vw = 0,

is continuous on [0, 1] v 0 P C[0, 1], v(0) = v(1) = 0}, then w = 0.

Answer 1. Lets partition [0, 1] in such a way that v 0 will be continuous on each of them.
[0, 1] = [0, x1 ] [x1 , x2 ] ... [xi , xi+1 ] ... [xk , 1]
We will prove this by Proof by Contradiction method. Assume that w 6= 0.
Lets assume that {i1 = i, i2 , ..., ik } is the set of the indices of x, for which the
following condition holds. If the infimum of w

on [xi , xi+1 ], inf[xi ,xi+1 ] w < 0, then

considering the freedom of choice of v V meaning that we can find v V s.t.

v|[xi ,xi+1 ] < 0, hence the infimum of (vw)|[xi ,xi+1 ] , will be greater 0.
Z 1
0

k
vwdx L([xi , xi+1 ]) = ik=i
(([xi , xi+1 ]))Inf ((wv)(x)|[xi ,xi +1] )dx > 0
1

, hence we obtained contradiction, therefore w has to be 0, on [0, 1].

We can easily obtain a similar contradiction when we assume w|[xi ,xi+1 ] > 0, by
choosing an element v|[xi ,xi+1 ] > 0.
Question 2. Show that the stiffness matrix A is SPD.
Answer 2. We would like to prove that the stiffness matrix A is SPD. Lets assume that
{i } be th basis of Vh V, then we know that vh Vh , {i }s.t.vh = M
i=1 i i (x).
Symetric property for A follows from the the inner product. Because every entries
aij of A is defined as aij = (0i , 0j ) = (0j , 0i ) = aji , i, j.
In order to prove the positive definiteness of this matrix we need to prove the following,
vhT Avh > 0, vh Vh
1 Since

w is given as a continuous function, we definitely know that the infimum of w, exists on a compact domain.

. Considering the above representation of 0 6= vh ,

M
M
0
0
M
0
M
0
0
0
vhT Avh = M
i=1 j=1 i aij j = i,j=1 i ((i , j )j ) = (j=1 i i , j=1 j ) = (vh , vh ) > 0,

(1)
Therefore, A is positive definite.
Question 3. Let the nodes be equally spaced with spacing h, what is A? DOos it remind
you of anything that we talked previously in class?
Answer 3. Steps size:=u, and since we have equally spaced nodes, {0 = x0 , x1 , x2 , ..., xm =
1}, it will become u =

1
.
m+1

We would like to see what the stiffness matrix A = (aij ) is.

Lets consider the linear basis {i }M

i=1 for which we have suppj [xj1 , xj ],

i (xj ) =

1,

if i 6= j

0,

if i = j

as we defined in class. Tberefore we know that every entries of A can be written as

follows:
aij = (0i , 0j )
j (x + h) j (x)
h0
h

0j (x) = lim

(2)

j
1

j (xj ) = 1
xj1xjxj+1

x
1

As we see in the above figure of j , it is supported in [xj1 , xj+1 ],

hence we can write explicitly each j , as follows:

j (x) =

(xxj1 )

,
u

if x [xj1 , xj )

1 xxj ,

if x [xj , xj+1 )

therefore,
0j (x) =

u1 ,

if x [xj1 , xj )

1 ,

if x [xj , xj+1 )

Now, we only need to calculate the inner products of {0j }0 s. Note that outside of the support of these basis functions, clearly we have 0, for the derivatives for all j = 1, 2, ..., M.
(0j , 0j ) =

R xj+1 1 2
R
( ) dx + xj+1 ( 1 )2 dx
xj1

(0j1 , 0j ) =

xj

R xj+1
xj2

= u2 .

0j1 (x) 0j (x)dx = 2

R xj
xj1

0j1 (x) 0j (x)dx =

R xj

1
xj1 u

u1 dx =

1
.
u

Lets assume that |i j| > 1, meaning that the best case that could happen would be
|i j| = 2, then we have the following figure:
1

j1 j+1

xj1x xj+1
xj2
xj+2
j

As we see on the above figure, suppi suppj = . This means that there is no interval
on which they are non zero thus, (0i , 0j ) = 0, when |i j| > 1.

Question 4. How can you construct Vh , for piecewise quadratic functions?

1. Find the basis functions.
2. What is the stiffness matrix for the uniform partition?
Answer 4. First, we discretize [0, 1] uniformly as follows:
[0, 1] = [0 = x0 , x1 ] [x1 , x2 ] ... [xM , xM +1 = 1]
where the step size is u =

1
.
M +1

Considering this discretization we will find a basis {Pi }M

i=1

of quadratic functions for Vh satisfying the following condition:

1,

if i 6= j

0,

if i = j

Pi (xj ) =
2 Note

the support of these functions

(xxj1 )(xxj+1 )
,
(xj xj1 )(xj xj+1 )

Pj (x) =

is a quadratic polynomial and satisfies the above condition for

all j = 1, 2, ..., M. Since we considered uniform partitioning for [0, 1],

Pj (x) =

(x xj1 )(x xj+1 )

(u)2

for j {1, 2, ..., M }. If we take each Pj supported in [xj1 , xj+1 ] as the basis element of
Vh , we will have the following, for the derivative of these basis functions:

(x+hxj1 )(x+hxj+1 )(xxj1 )(xxj+1 )

limh0
,
(u)2 h

Pj (x + h) Pj (x)
=

h0
h

0,

Pj0 (x) = lim

Pj0 (x) =

if x (xj1 , xj+1 )
if x [xj1 , xj+1 ]c

(2x+xj+1 +xj1 )

,
(u)2

if x (xj1 , xj+1 )

0,

if x [xj1 , xj+1 ]c

In order to get the entries of the corresponding stiffness matrix A = (aij ) for considered
quadratic polynomial basis {Pj }M
j=1 , that we have the figure below, associated to the (Vh )
problem, we need to calculate the following inner products:
ajj = (Pj0 , Pj0 ) =

R xj+1 (2x+xj+1 +xj1 )2

xj1

(u)4

dx =

R a+2u (2x+a+2u+a)2
a

(u)4

8
dx = 3 3u
,

0
0
; then
, Pj0 ) = aj1j
) = 4 (Pj1
ajj1
= (Pj0 , Pj1
0
(Pj1
, Pj0 ) =

R xj+1 (2x+xj +xj2 )(2x+xj+1 +xj1 )

0
(Pj1
, Pj0 ) = 6

xj2

(u)4

dx = 5

R b+2u (2x+b+2u+b)(2x+b+2u+u+b+u)
b+u

(u)4

R xj

dx =

xj1

(2x+xj +xj2 )(2x+xj+1 +xj1 )

dx
(u)4

2
3u

Now, we would like to find the inner product when we have |i j| > 1
aij = (Pi0 , Pj0 ) =

R xj+1 (2x+xi+1 +xi1 )(2x+xj+1 +xj1 )

xi1

(u)4

3 Thanks

to Mathematica
of the symetry property of the inner product
5 Due to the supports of these basis functions
6 Take x
j2 = b
7 Due to the supports of these basis functions
4 Because

dx = 7 0.

Pj1 Pj

xj2x

j1

Pj1Pj+1

xj x

x
j+1

xj2x

j1

xj x xj+2

j+1

|(j) (j 1)| = 1,

|(j 1) (j + 1)| = 1,

suppPj1 suppPj 6=

suppPj1 suppPj+1 =

for problem (Vh ), corresponding to quadratic polynomial basis

Then, stiffness matrix A,
is
8
2

3
3

2
2 8

3 3 3

2 8

3 3

1 .

..
A = u ..
.

..
.

..

2
0
3

..

..

..
.

..
.

..
..
.
.
2 8
2
0

3 3
3
2 8
0
3 3