Zdeněk Hurák: Short intro to piecewise polynomial approximation using Chebfun

Fri, 04/10/2015

2pm at K14, duration: 60 minutes. Tutorial for one particular concept in numerical computing - piecewise polynomial appoximation of functions over a grid of cleverly chosen (Chebyshev) points. The whole advanced mathematical concept has materialized in the form of a Matlab toolbox - Chebfun, which has been developed by Nick Trefethen's group at Oxford. The toolbox is really very well developed and documented (pdf manual)  and can be used for solving a surprisingly wide spectrum of problems - including differential equations (that is how it fits into our scope of dynamical systems). The theory behind it is nicely explained in Trefethen's freely downloadable texbook on Approximation theory and approximation practice, recently published with SIAM.