adding 2 polynomials having lots of trouble

y(x) = p_1*(x^n)+p_2*(x^(n-1))+...+p_n*x+p_n+1

z(x) = s_1*(x^m)+s_2*(x^(m-1))+...+s_m*x+s_m+1

i need to add the coefficients of the terms with the same power when m=n, m<n, and m>n.

h(x) = y(x) + z(x)

The input to the script will be vectors:

p = [p_1,p_2...p_n,p_n+1]

s = [s_1,s_2...s_m,s_m+1]

an example if the input was:

p = [1,2,3,4] and s = [10,20,30,40]

I should get the answer [11,22,33,44]

please help i am very new to matlab and im really having trouble with this one

[lowcalorie]

if you cant understand the question i can email you a picture of the question that might be more readable

Answer 1

[Wayne King]

p = [11,12,13,14];
s = [101,102];
s = [zeros(1,2) s];
h = p + s;

[lowcalorie]

MY CODE NEEDS TO WORK FOR ANY SIZE VECTORS

[Wayne King]

Then you just need to figure out how many zeros to add so that your vectors are equal length and the powers of the polynomial are correctly aligned.

[lowcalorie]

BUT I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ADJUST s = [zeros(1,2) s]; EVERY TIME THE USER INPUTS A DIFFERENT SIZE VECTOR

[Wayne King]

why don't you require the user to input a vector in ascending powers of x? If your program only allows nonnegative powers of x, then the first element should always be the 0-th power. If that coefficient is zero, then the user should enter a zero for that power and for any other power that has a zero coefficient. Otherwise, the user needs to add some additional input for your program to tell which powers the coefficients go with. For example:

x = [ 2 3 4];

How would you know that 2 was the coefficient for x^3 3 was for x^7, etc.?

Make the user enter

x = [0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3....

Answer 2

[Wayne King]

p = [1,2,3,4]; 
s = [10,20,30,40];
z = s + p;

should work just fine, so please show your code and what error you are getting.

[lowcalorie]

i dont think my code would be that simple from what i have been working on im having trouble formatting the equations y(x) and z(x)

another example if i input:

p = [11,12,13,14] and s = [101,102] i should get h(x) = [11,12,114,116]