Simpson’s 1/3 rd Rule of

Integration

Prepared By:
Miss Shaista Rais
What is Integration?
b
Integration  f ( x )dx
a
f(x)
y
The process of measuring
the area under a curve.

b
I   f ( x )dx
a

Where:
f(x) is the integrand
a= lower limit of integration
a b x
b= upper limit of integration
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Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule

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Basis of Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule
Trapezoidal rule was based on approximating the integrand by a first
order polynomial, and then integrating the polynomial in the interval of
integration. Simpson’s 1/3rd rule is an extension of Trapezoidal rule
where the integrand is approximated by a second order polynomial.

Hence
b b
I   f ( x )dx   f 2 ( x )dx
a a

Where f2( x ) is a second order polynomial.

f 2 ( x )  a0  a1 x  a2 x 2
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Basis of Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule

Choose

 a  b  a  b 
( a , f ( a )),  ,f  , and ( b , f ( b ))
 2  2 
as the three points of the function to evaluate a0, a1 and a2.

f ( a )  f 2 ( a )  a0  a1a  a2 a 2

a  b a  b a  b a  b
2
f   f2    a0  a1    a2  
 2   2   2   2 

f ( b )  f 2 ( b )  a0  a1b  a2 b 2
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Basis of Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule

Solving the previous equations for a0, a1 and a2 give

a  b
a f ( b )  abf ( b )  4abf 
2
  abf ( a )  b f ( a )
2

a0   2 
a 2  2ab  b 2
a  b a  b
af ( a )  4af    3af ( b )  3bf ( a )  4bf    bf ( b )
a1    2   2 
a 2  2ab  b 2
 a  b 
2 f ( a )  2 f    f ( b ) 
  2  
a2 
a 2  2ab  b 2 6
Basis of Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule

Then
b
I   f 2 ( x )dx
a

  a0  a1 x  a 2 x 2 dx
b

b
 x x 
2 3
 a0 x  a1  a2 
 2 3 a

b2  a2 b3  a3
 a0 ( b  a )  a1  a2
2 3
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Basis of Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule

Substituting values of a0, a1, a 2 give

b
ba a  b 
 f 2 ( x )dx   f ( a )  4 f    f ( b )
a 6   2 

Since for Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule, the interval [a, b] is broken

ba
h
2
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Basis of Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule

Hence

b
h a  b 
 2
f ( x )dx   f ( a )  4 f    f ( b )
a 3  2 

Because the above form has 1/3 in its formula, it is called Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule.

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Example 1

The distance covered by a rocket from t=8 to t=30 is given by

30
  140000  
x    2000 ln    9.8t dt
8 140000  2100t  

a) Use Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule to find the approximate value of x

b) Find the true error, Et

c) Find the absolute relative true error, t

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Solution

a) 30
x  f (t )dt
8
 b  a  a  b 
x  f ( a )  4 f    f ( b )
 6   2 
 30  8 
  f ( 8 )  4 f ( 19 )  f ( 30 )
 6 

 22 
  177.2667  4( 484.7455 )  901.6740
6
 11065.72 m
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Solution (cont)

b) The exact value of the above integral is


30
 140000  
x    2000 ln    9.8t dt
8 140000  2100t  

 11061.34 m
True Error

Et  11061.34  11065.72
 4.38 m
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Solution (cont)

a)c) Absolute relative true error,

11061.34  11065.72
t   100%
11061.34

 0.0396%

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