The midpoint rule of numerical integration

$\displaystyle \int_a^b f(x)\,dx \approx (b-a)f\left(\frac{a+b}{2}\right)$

is approximate in general, but exact for linear functions (polynomials of degree at most one).

With two sample points we can integrate any cubic polynomial exactly. The choice of sample points is not obvious: they are to be placed at distance ${\dfrac{1}{2\sqrt{3}}(b-a)}$ from the midpoint. On the example below, ${a=0}$ and ${b=1}$, so the sample points are ${x_{1,2} = \dfrac12 \pm \dfrac{1}{2\sqrt{3}}}$. The integral is equal to ${\dfrac12 f(x_1)+\dfrac12 f(x_2)}$. One can say that each sample point has weight ${1/2}$ in this rule.

Three sample points are enough for polynomials of degrees up to and including five. This time, the weights attached to the sample points are not equal. The midpoint is used again, this time with the weight of ${4/9}$. Two other sample points are at distance ${\dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2\sqrt{5}}(b-a)}$ from the midpoint, and their weights are ${5/18}$ each. This contraption exactly integrates polynomials of degrees up to five.

Compare this with Simpson’s rule, which also uses three sample points but is exact only up to degree three.

The above are examples of Gaussian quadrature: for each positive integer ${n}$, one can integrate polynomials of degree up to ${2n-1}$ by taking ${n}$ samples at the right places, and weighing them appropriately.

Let’s move from the real line to the complex plane. If one accepts that the analog of interval ${(a,b)}$ is a disk in the plane, then quadrature becomes very simple: for any disk ${D}$ and any complex polynomials ${p}$,

$\displaystyle \iint_D p = \pi r^2 p(c)$

where ${c}$ is the center of the disk and ${r}$ is its radius. One sample point is enough for all degrees! The proof is easy: rewrite ${p}$ in terms of powers of ${(z-c)}$ and integrate them in polar coordinates. The same works for any holomorphic function, as long as it is integrable in ${D}$.

But maybe the disk is a unique such shape? Not at all: there are other such quadrature domains. A simple family of examples is Neumann ovals (Neumann as in “boundary condition”). Geometrically, they are ellipses inverted in a concentric circle. Analytically, they are (up to linear transformations) images of the unit disk ${\mathbb{D}}$ under

$\displaystyle \varphi(z)=\frac{z}{1-c^2 z^2}\quad (0\le c<1)$

This image, denoted ${\Omega }$ below, looks much like an ellipse when ${c}$ is small:

Then it becomes peanut-shaped:

For ${c\approx 1}$ it looks much like the union of two disks (but the boundary is smooth, contrary to what the plot suggests):

In each of these images, the marked points are the quadrature nodes. Let’s find out what they are and how they work.

Suppose ${f}$ is holomorphic and integrable in ${\Omega}$. By a change of variables,

$\displaystyle \iint_{\Omega } f = \iint_{\mathbb D} (f\circ \varphi)\, \varphi' \,\overline{\varphi'}$

Here ${ (f\circ \varphi) \varphi'}$ is holomorphic, but ${ \overline{\varphi'} }$ is anti-holomorphic. We want to know what ${ \overline{\varphi'} }$ does when integrated against something holomorphic. Power series to the rescue:

$\displaystyle \varphi(z) = z\sum_{n=0}^\infty c^{2n} z^{2n} = \sum_{n=0}^\infty c^{2n} z^{2n+1}$

hence

$\displaystyle \overline{\varphi'(z)} = \sum_{n=0}^\infty c^{2n} (2n+1) \bar z^{2n}$

Multiply this by ${z^{k}}$ and integrate over ${\mathbb D}$ in polar coordinates: the result is ${0}$ if ${k}$ is odd and

$\displaystyle 2\pi c^{k} (k+1) \int_0^1 r^{2k} r\,dr= \pi c^{k}$

if ${k}$ is even. So, integration of ${\overline{\varphi'(z)}}$ against a power series ${g(z) = \sum a_k z^k}$ produces the sum of ${a_{k} c^{k}}$ over even powers ${k}$ only (with the factor of ${\pi}$). The process of dropping odd powers amounts to taking the even part of ${g}$:

$\displaystyle \iint_{\mathbb D} g\, \overline{\varphi'} = \frac{\pi}{2} ( g(c)+ g(-c))$

Yes, there’s something about ${ \overline{\varphi'} }$ that’s magic (key words: reproducing kernel, specifically Bergman kernel). Plug ${g= (f\circ \varphi)\, \varphi' }$ to conclude

$\displaystyle \iint_{\Omega } f = \frac{\pi}{2} \Big\{f(\varphi(c))\, \varphi'(c) + f(\varphi(-c) ) \,\varphi'(-c)\Big\}$

So, the nodes are ${\varphi(\pm c) = \pm c/(1-c^4)}$. They have equal weight, because ${\varphi'(\pm c) = \dfrac{1+c^4}{(1-c^4)^2}}$. Final result:

$\displaystyle \iint_{\Omega } f = \frac{\pi (1+c^4)}{2 (1-c^4)^2}\, \left\{f \left( \frac{c}{1-c^4} \right) + f \left(- \frac{c}{1-c^4} \right) \right\}$

Again, this is a two-point quadrature formula that is exact for all complex polynomials.

As a bonus, put ${f\equiv 1}$ to find that the area of ${\Omega}$ is ${\dfrac{\pi (1+c^4)}{ (1-c^4)^2}}$.

## Biased and unbiased mollification

When we want to smoothen (mollify) a given function ${f:{\mathbb R}\rightarrow{\mathbb R}}$, the standard recipe suggests: take the ${C^{\infty}}$-smooth bump function

$\displaystyle \varphi(t) = \begin{cases} c\, \exp\{1/(1-t^2)\}\quad & |t|<1; \\ 0 \quad & |t|\ge 1 \end{cases}$

where ${c}$ is chosen so that ${\int_{{\mathbb R}} \varphi=1}$ (for the record, ${c\approx 2.2523}$).

Make the bump narrow and tall: ${\varphi_{\delta}(t)=\delta^{-1}\varphi(t/\delta)}$. Then define ${f_\delta = f*\varphi_\delta}$, that is

$\displaystyle f_\delta(x) = \int_{\mathbb R} f(x-t) \varphi_\delta(t)\,dt = \int_{\mathbb R} f(t) \varphi_\delta(x-t)\,dt$

The second form of the integral makes it clear that ${f_\delta}$ is infinitely differentiable. And it is easy to prove that for any continuous ${f}$ the approximation ${f_\delta}$ converges to ${ f}$ uniformly on compact subsets of ${{\mathbb R}}$.

The choice of the particular mollifier given above is quite natural: we want a ${C^\infty}$ function with compact support (to avoid any issues with fast-growing functions ${f}$), so it cannot be analytic. And functions like ${\exp(-1/t)}$ are standard examples of infinitely smooth non-analytic functions. Being nonnegative is obviously a plus. What else to ask for?

Well, one may ask for a good rate of convergence. If ${f}$ is an ugly function like ${f(x)=\sqrt{|x|}}$, then we probably should not expect fast convergence. But is could be something like ${f(x)=|x|^7}$; a function that is already six times differentiable. Will the rate of convergence be commensurate with the head start ${f\in C^6}$ that we are given?

No, it will not. The limiting factor is not the lack of seventh derivative at ${x=0}$; it is the presence of (nonzero) second derivative at ${x\ne 0}$. To study this effect in isolation, consider the function ${f(x)=x^2}$, which has nothing beyond the second derivative. Here it is together with ${f_{0.1}}$: the red and blue graphs are nearly indistinguishable.

But upon closer inspection, ${f_{0.1}}$ misses the target by almost ${2\cdot 10^{-3}}$. And not only around the origin: the difference ${f_{0.1}-f}$ is constant.

With ${\delta=0.01}$ the approximation is better.

But upon closer inspection, ${f_{0.01}}$ misses the target by almost ${2\cdot 10^{-5}}$.

And so it continues, with the error of order ${\delta^2}$. And here is where it comes from:

$\displaystyle f_\delta(0) = \int_{\mathbb R} t^2\varphi_\delta(t)\,dt = \delta^{-1} \int_{\mathbb R} t^2\varphi(t/\delta)\,dt = \delta^{2} \int_{\mathbb R} s^2\varphi(s)\,ds$

The root of the problem is the nonzero second moment ${\int_{\mathbb R} s^2\varphi(s)\,ds \approx 0.158}$. But of course, this moment cannot be zero if ${\varphi}$ does not change sign. All familiar mollifiers, from Gaussian and Poisson kernels to compactly supported bumps such as ${\varphi}$, have this limitation. Since they do not reproduce quadratic polynomials exactly, they cannot approximate anything with nonzero second derivative better than to the order ${\delta^2}$.

Let’s find a mollifier without such limitations; that is, with zero moments of all orders. One way to do it is to use the Fourier transform. Since ${\int_{\mathbb R} t^n \varphi(t)\,dt }$ is a multiple of ${\widehat{\varphi}^{(n)}(0)}$, it suffices to find a nice function ${\psi}$ such that ${\psi(0)=1}$ and ${\psi^{(n)}(0)=0}$ for ${n\ge 1}$; the mollifier will be the inverse Fourier transform of ${\psi}$.

As an example, I took something similar to the original ${\varphi}$, but with a flat top:

$\displaystyle \psi(\xi) = \begin{cases} 1 \quad & |\xi|\le 0.1; \\ \exp\{1-1/(1-(|\xi|-0.01)^2)\} \quad & 0.1<|\xi|<1.1\\ 0\quad & |\xi|\ge 1.1 \end{cases}$

The inverse Fourier transform of ${\psi}$ is a mollifier that reproduces all polynomials exactly: ${p*\varphi = p}$ for any polynomial. Here it is:

Since I did not make ${\psi}$ very carefully (its second derivative is discontinuous at ${\pm 0.01}$), the mollifier ${\varphi}$ has a moderately heavy tail. With a more careful construction it would decay faster than any power of ${t}$. However, it cannot be compactly supported. Indeed, if ${\varphi}$ were compactly supported, then ${\widehat{\varphi}}$ would be real-analytic; that is, represented by its power series centered at ${\xi=0}$. But that power series is

$\displaystyle 1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+\dots$

The idea of using negative weights in the process of averaging ${f}$ looks counterintuitive, but it’s a fact of life. Like the appearance of negative coefficients in the 9-point Newton-Cotes quadrature formula… but that’s another story.

Credit: I got the idea of this post from the following remark by fedja on MathOverflow:

The usual spherical cap mollifiers reproduce constants and linear functions faithfully but have a bias on quadratic polynomials. That’s why you cannot go beyond ${C^2}$ and ${\delta^2}$ with them.

## Web-based LaTeX to WordPress (and something about polynomials)

Recently I began using the excellent Python program LaTeX to WordPress (LaTeX2WP) by Luca Trevisan. Since some of my posts are written on computers where Python is not readily available, I put LaTeX2WP on PythonAnywhere as a web2py application. The downside is that settings are stuck at default (e.g., you get blackboard bold letters using \N, \Z, \R, \C, \Q). The upside is that the process simplifies to copy-paste-click-copy-paste.

The application is here: Web-based LaTeX2WP and it looks like this:

Although my modification of the source code is utterly trivial, according to GPL I should put it here. Namely, I merged latex2wp.py and latex2wpstyle.py into one file convert4.py, since web users can’t edit the style file anyway. Also replaced file input/output by a function call, which comes from web2py controller:

def index():
import convert4
form=FORM(TEXTAREA(_name='LaTeX', requires=IS_NOT_EMPTY()), BR(), INPUT(_type='submit', _value='Convert to WordPress'))
produced = ''
if form.accepts(request,session):
produced = convert4.mainproc(form.vars.LaTeX)
form2=FORM(TEXTAREA(_name='WP', value=produced))
return dict(form=form, form2=form2)

which in turn populates the html file:

Enter LaTeX code here
{{=form}}
Get WordPress code here
{{=form2}}

To beef up this post, I include sample output. It is based on an old write-up of my discussions with Paul Gustafson during REU 2006 at Texas A&M University. Unfortunately, the project was never finished. I would still like to know if ${\partial}$-equivalence of polynomials appeared in the literature; the definition looks natural enough.

Given two polynomials ${p,q \in {\mathbb C}[z_1,\dots,z_n]}$, write ${q\preccurlyeq p}$ if there exists a differential operator ${\mathcal T\in {\mathbb C}[\frac{\partial}{\partial z_1},\dots, \frac{\partial}{\partial z_n}]}$ such that ${q=\mathcal Tp}$. The relation ${\preccurlyeq}$ is reflexive and transitive, but is not antisymmetric. If both ${p\preccurlyeq q}$ and ${q\preccurlyeq p}$ hold, we can say that ${p}$ and ${q}$ are ${\partial}$-equivalent.

Definition.
A polynomial is ${\partial}$-homogeneous if it is ${\partial}$-equivalent to a homogeneous polynomial.

It turns out that it is easy to check the ${\partial}$-homogeneity of ${p}$ by decomposing it into homogeneous parts

$\displaystyle p=p_0+p_1+\dots +p_d \ \ \ \ \ (1)$

where ${p_k}$ is homogeneous of degree ${k}$ and ${p_d\not\equiv 0}$.

Then use the following

Proposition 1.
The polynomial (1) is ${\partial}$-homogeneous if and only if ${p_k\preccurlyeq p_d}$ for ${k=0,\dots, d-1}$.

Proof: Exercise. $\Box$

For example, the polynomial ${p(z,w)=z^3-5w^3+2zw}$ is not ${\partial}$-homogeneous since ${zw\not\preccurlyeq (z^3-5w^3)}$. On the other hand, ${q(z,w)=z^3-3z^2w+2zw}$ is ${\partial}$-homogeneous because ${zw\preccurlyeq (z^3-3z^2w)}$. In particular, ${p}$ and ${q}$ are not ${\partial}$-equivalent.

Proposition 1 also makes it clear that every polynomial in one variable is ${\partial}$-homogeneous. For univariate polynomials ${\partial}$-equivalence amounts to having the same degree.