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Create and Evaluate Polynomials

This example shows how to represent a polynomial as a vector in MATLAB® and evaluate the polynomial at points of interest.

Representing Polynomials

MATLAB® represents polynomials as row vectors containing coefficients ordered by descending powers. For example, the three-element vector

p = [p2 p1 p0];

represents the polynomial

p(x)=p2x2+p1x+p0.

Create a vector to represent the quadratic polynomial p(x)=x2-4x+4.

p = [1 -4 4];

Intermediate terms of the polynomial that have a coefficient of 0 must also be entered into the vector, since the 0 acts as a placeholder for that particular power of x.

Create a vector to represent the polynomial p(x)=4x5-3x2+2x+33.

p = [4 0 0 -3 2 33];

Evaluating Polynomials

After entering the polynomial into MATLAB® as a vector, use the polyval function to evaluate the polynomial at a specific value.

Use polyval to evaluate p(2).

polyval(p,2)
ans = 153

Alternatively, you can evaluate a polynomial in a matrix sense using polyvalm. The polynomial expression in one variable, p(x)=4x5-3x2+2x+33, becomes the matrix expression

p(X)=4X5-3X2+2X+33I,

where X is a square matrix and I is the identity matrix.

Create a square matrix, X, and evaluate p at X.

X = [2 4 5; -1 0 3; 7 1 5];
Y = polyvalm(p,X)
Y = 3×3

      154392       78561      193065
       49001       24104       59692
      215378      111419      269614

See Also

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