BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, PILANI-HYDERABAD CAMPUS

FIRST SEMESTER 20152015

Test- I (Open Book)

Course No: PHY F313
Course Title: COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS
Date: 14th September, 2015

Total Marks: 60
Weightage: 20%
Max. Time: 60 mins

1. An integral I is evaluated using the Simpsons 1/3 rd rule with a step size (interval between successive
values of x) h and found to have a value I1. If the step size is reduced to h/2, then the value of the
integral is found to be I2. Using the values of I1 and I2 derive an expression for an estimate of the
integral I, which is more accurate than both I1 and I2.
(15)
2. Suppose that you want to use the Newton-Raphson method for finding the cube root of a number N.
Derive an expression connecting xi and xi+1, where xi and xi+1 are the approximate values of the cube
root in the ith and (i+1)th iterations.
(10)
3. Determine the transformation which converts the interval [-,] to the interval [-1,1] and use the

1 exp( 2 x)
1 exp( 2 x) dx

transformation to do a numerical evaluation of the integral

. Use a two term
Gaussian quadrature to evaluate the transformed integral over the interval [-1, 1]. Do you think the
numerical answer you have obtained is a reasonable estimate of the integral? Why?
(20)
4. You are asked to solve the following system of equations:
x2 y 2 9
; y = exp(x)
Assume that you have access to a program which finds the solution to a single equation using the
fixed point iteration method. What will be your initial guess for x? Do you think the method will
converge for this initial guess? Why? How many solutions do you expect for this system of
equations? Explain.
(15)