C File Input/Trapezoid Rule Program - c

Question

Little bit of a 2 parter. First of all im trying to do this in all c. First of all I'll go ahead and post my program
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <omp.h>
#include <string.h>
double f(double x);
void Trap(double a, double b, int n, double* integral_p);
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
double integral=0.0; //Integral Result
double a=6, b=10; //Left and Right Points
int n; //Number of Trapezoids (Higher=more accurate)
int degree;
if (argc != 3) {
printf("Error: Invalid Command Line arguements, format:./trapezoid N filename");
exit(0);
}
n = atoi(argv[2]);
FILE *fp = fopen( argv[1], "r" );
# pragma omp parallel
Trap(a, b, n, &integral);
printf("With n = %d trapezoids....\n", n);
printf("of the integral from %f to %f = %.15e\n",a, b, integral);
return 0;
}
double f(double x) {
double return_val;
return_val = pow(3.0*x,5)+pow(2.5*x,4)+pow(-1.5*x,3)+pow(0*x,2)+pow(1.7*x,1)+4;
return return_val;
}
void Trap(double a, double b, int n, double* integral_p) {
double h, x, my_integral;
double local_a, local_b;
int i, local_n;
int my_rank = omp_get_thread_num();
int thread_count = omp_get_num_threads();
h = (b-a)/n;
local_n = n/thread_count;
local_a = a + my_rank*local_n*h;
local_b = local_a + local_n*h;
my_integral = (f(local_a) + f(local_b))/2.0;
for (i = 1; i <= local_n-1; i++) {
x = local_a + i*h;
my_integral += f(x);
}
my_integral = my_integral*h;
# pragma omp critical
*integral_p += my_integral;
}
As you can see, it calculates trapezoidal rule given an interval.
First of all it DOES work, if you hardcode the values and the function. But I need to read from a file in the format of
5
3.0 2.5 -1.5 0.0 1.7 4.0
6 10
Which means:
It is of degree 5 (no more than 50 ever)
3.0x^5 +2.5x^4 −1.5x^3 +1.7x+4 is the polynomial (we skip ^2 since it's 0)
and the Interval is from 6 to 10
My main concern is the f(x) function which I have hardcoded. I have NO IDEA how to make it take up to 50 besides literally typing out 50 POWS and reading in the values to see what they could be.......Anyone else have any ideas perhaps?
Also what would be the best way to read in the file? fgetc? Im not really sure when it comes to reading in C input (especially since everything i read in is an INT, is there some way to convert them?)

Answer 1

For a large degree polynomial, would something like this work?
double f(double x, double coeff[], int nCoeff)
{
double return_val = 0.0;
int exponent = nCoeff-1;
int i;
for(i=0; i<nCoeff-1; ++i, --exponent)
{
return_val = pow(coeff[i]*x, exponent) + return_val;
}
/* add on the final constant, 4, in our example */
return return_val + coeff[nCoeff-1];
}
In your example, you would call it like:
sampleCall()
{
double coefficients[] = {3.0, 2.5, -1.5, 0, 1.7, 4};
/* This expresses 3x^5 + 2.5x^4 + (-1.5x)^3 + 0x^2 + 1.7x + 4 */
my_integral = f(x, coefficients, 6);
}
By passing an array of coefficients (the exponents are assumed), you don't have to deal with variadic arguments. The hardest part is constructing the array, and that is pretty simple.
It should go without saying, if you put the coefficients array and number-of-coefficients into global variables, then the signature of f(x) doesn't need to change:
double f(double x)
{
// access glbl_coeff and glbl_NumOfCoeffs, instead of parameters
}

Answer 2

For you f() function consider making it variadic (varargs is another name)
http://www.gnu.org/s/libc/manual/html_node/Variadic-Functions.html
This way you could pass the function 1 arg telling it how many "pows" you want, with each susequent argument being a double value. Is this what you are asking for with the f() function part of your question?