Practice question · Numerical answer
The exact value of the integral of x squared from 0 to 2 is 8/3. The trapezoidal estimate with two strips is 3. What is the absolute error of that estimate?
Hints
- Absolute error is the size of the difference from the exact value.
- 8/3 is about 2.667.
Show the answer
0.3333 (answers within ±0.03 count)
Why
3 - 2.667 = 0.333. Simpson's rule on the very same three function values gave zero error, which shows that accuracy came from the shape fitted, not from extra data.
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