Question

• Give reasons why a Stock Market graph for one week does not represent a true polynomial function
• Give one real life example where a polynomial function can be used and give reasons for your choice.   

Answer 1

A stock market graph for a week shows us the value of the stock market index for different points within a week. It is a discrete set of points joined by lines. This can be represented by a polynomial with a very high degree since any set of n points can be interpolated by a polynomial of degree (n-1). But this is not a natural or a true polynomial, its an artificially fitted polynomial to discrete random data

On the other hand, examples of "true" polynomial functions from real life include the height above the ground of a ball thrown at some angle . This is a polynomial as its functional form is which is a polynomial in the time t