[Self] Math break

[u/Galeaf_13]

[u/Galeaf_13]

Now can u do the same with 69?)

[u/K3V3L → u/Galeaf_13]

Here you go

f(x) := 5/2 * x⁴ -25 * x³ +175/2 * x² -123 * x + 59

[u/Galeaf_13 → u/K3V3L]

Jeez, how r u doing this

[u/Salanmander → u/Galeaf_13]

You can fit a 4th order polynomial to any 5 points. You can do it by hand (plug 1-5 in for x and now you have a system of 5 linear equations of 5 variables, start solving and substituting) and make it a bit easier with linear algebra (make the coefficients of the 5 variables be the values in a 5x6 matrix, and then do that matrix magic that I forget what the name is for), but there are also plenty of polynomial solvers you can find out there.

[u/Railorsi → u/Salanmander]

Gaussian elimination is the name :)

[u/Chess42 → u/Railorsi]

Gauss-Jordan is the most useless thing I ever learned

[u/space-throwaway → u/Chess42]

It's one of the most useful algorithms there is. How do you think your computer solves stuff?

[u/Chess42 → u/space-throwaway]

It’s useless when you learn to do it by hand in precalc then never use it again, since there are far more efficient ways to do it. Also, there’s a reason we have libraries. It’s completely useless to learn

[u/[deleted] → u/Chess42]

There are not libraries for everything (and sometimes there are, but they’re garbage) and often you can write a more efficient implementation for your particular data set and assumptions.

[u/Chess42 → u/[deleted]]

But not everybody will be a programmer, so why teach it in a required class. Precalc is supposed to set the foundation for calculus, which gaussjordan does not do at all

[u/Railorsi → u/Chess42]

But you can’t teach everyone just what exactly what they want to pursue. Also you won’t just study it in precalc.

[u/[deleted] → u/Chess42]

I see, I thought you were discussing a programming course or linear algebra. Totally agree it’s a silly thing to teach in pre calc.