On polynomial interpolation at the points of a geometric progression

Abstract

This note pursues two aims: the first is historical and the second is factual. 1. We present James Stirling’s discovery (1730) that Newton’s general interpolation series with divided differences simplifies if the points of interpolation form a geometric progression. For its most important case of extrapolation at the origin. Karl Schellbach (1864) develops his algorithm of q-differences that also leads naturally to theta-functions. Carl Runge (1891) solves the same extrapolation at the origin, without referring to the Stirling-Schellbach algorithm. Instead, Runge uses “Richardson’s deferred approach to the limit” 20 years before Richardson. 2. Recently, the author found a close connection to Romberg’s quadrature formula in terms of “binary” trapezoidal sums. It is shown that the problems of Stirling, Schellbach, and Runge, are elegantly solved by Romberg’s algorithm. Numerical examples are given briefly. Fuller numerical details can be found in the author’s MRC T.S. Report #2173, December 1980, Madison, Wisconsin. Thanks are due to the referee for suggesting the present stream-lined version. © 1981, Royal Society of Edinburgh. All rights reserved.