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Interpolating

rm2 (Mechanical)

(OP)

1 Jul 09 19:14

Hello,

I have to vectors (flow and pressure).
I am scatter plotting them (flow vs pressure). I did it before, I do not recall how I interpolated around for a certain value of let say pressure and have the flow value on that specific point...
hope anyone can help me, thanks

electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 1 · 2009-07-01 22:54:09

Have you tried linear interpolation?

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IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 2 · 2009-07-02 00:12:19

Excel has functions for curve fitting, like linest and logest, from which you get the parameters for doing the interpolations.

TTFN

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rm2 (Mechanical) · Answer 3 · 2009-07-02 01:29:10

is it interp2?
I will try tomorrow morning

MikeyP (Aerospace) · Answer 4 · 2009-07-02 04:25:27

Do you want an interpolation or a best fit line?

use "polyfit" for the latter

M

--
Dr Michael F Platten

rm2 (Mechanical) · Answer 5 · 2009-07-02 16:30:50

Interpolation

electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 6 · 2009-07-02 20:22:23

I'm sure there are some built in excel functions that's do what you want.

Personally rather then worrying about that syntax I would rather just write the formula.  Then you can do the same thing in Matlab or Maple or whatever.  Math works in any language.

Step 1:  What is the slope of a line passing through two points: (X1,Y1) and (X2,Y2).
Think about it before you read the answer.
Answer:  slope = (Y2-Y1)/(X2-X1)

Step 2: How do I use that slop to find the value of Y at some arbitrary X in the interval (X1,YX)?
Think about it before you read the answer.
Answer:
Y = Y1 + slope * (X-X1)

Sorry I am not trying to be a jerk.  It is something you should spend time understanding (rather than memorizing) imo.

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electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 7 · 2009-07-02 20:24:33

obvious typo correction in bold:

Quote:
Step 2: How do I use that slope to find the value of Y at some arbitrary X in the interval (X1,X2)?

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electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 8 · 2009-07-02 20:29:17

I apologize if I have underestimated your problem. Maybe you want a general formula to work with two columns of X, Y data. Then you need to use some lookups if you are going to build the arguments for the interpolation formula if you are going to build it yourself.

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electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 9 · 2009-07-02 20:32:43

Here is a vba function to return the interpolation from a range of X's and Y's:

CODE

Function InterpL(LookupValue, KnownXs, KnownYs)
Dim pointer As Integer
Dim XO As Double, YO As Double, X1 As Double, Y1 As Double
pointer = Application.Match(LookupValue, KnownXs, 1)

XO = KnownXs(pointer)
YO = KnownYs(pointer)
X1 = KnownXs(pointer + 1)
Y1 = KnownYs(pointer + 1)
InterpL = YO + (LookupValue - XO) * (Y1 - YO) / (X1 - XO)
End Function

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electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 10 · 2009-07-02 20:34:37

And yes this is linear interpolation. For a higher order interpolation you need a spline technique. Let us know if you are interested in that.

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electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 11 · 2009-07-02 21:07:51

Hmmm. I thought I was in the excel forum - hence the vba function. IRStuff sent me off track (or maybe I just wasn't paying attention).

Use interp1 for simple interpolation like you are talking about.

Interp2 is for 2-d interpolation.

There is a lot of help in the help

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SomptingGuy (Automotive) · Answer 12 · 2009-07-03 07:19:23

If you are using interp1, be sure that your independent axis (you haven't told us whether it's pressure or flow) is monotonic.

- Steve

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