Question

Use finite differences to identify the degree of the polynomial that best describes the data. 9 10 11 12 13 14

Answer 1

The forward differences for this data is 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (since 10 - 9 = 1, 11 - 10 = 1, etc). Since we only need one iteration of differences, a linear polynomial will fit the data exactly.