Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/ib/paper-1/6c/solution

For two-node Gaussian quadrature with linear weight, the monic node polynomial must be orthogonal to and for weight . Indeed, exactness through degree three makes the quadrature of and vanish at its nodes. The moment equations are
so and . Thus the Gaussian quadrature nodes, labelled in increasing order, are
Integrating the linear Lagrange interpolation cardinal functions gives the weights
They are positive, sum to , and reproduce the first moment . Any cubic polynomial has remainder of degree at most one after division by ; orthogonality annihilates the other part both in the integral and at the nodes. This proves degree-three exactness, not merely the two moment conditions for the weights.

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