Interpolation

In mathematics, interpolation is used to approximate a function for which we only know values for a discrete set of values of the independent variable. For example, suppose we have a table like

x   f(x)
-   ----
1     1
2     4
3     9
4    16
5    25

We immediately recognize that f(x) can be fit precisely by the function x² but in general this is not the case when we want to interpolate. Suppose we would like the value of f(x) which corresponds to x = 1.7. The simplest method is linear interpolation between the values for x = 1 and x = 2:

See also:

• Linear interpolation
• Polynomial interpolation
• Spline interpolation
• Bilinear interpolation
• Curve fitting
• Pareto interpolation
• Nyquist-Shannon interpolation formula