Understanding Interpolation

Interpolation is a method for estimating the value of a function between two known values. Often
some relationship is measured experimentally or traced with Dagra at a range of values.
Interpolation can be used to estimate the function for untabulated points.
For example, suppose we have tabulated data for the thermal resistance of a transistor tabulated
for air velocity from 0 to 1800 FPM in 200 FPM steps. Interpolation can be used to estimate the
thermal resistance at non-tabulated values such as 485 FPM.

Linear Interpolation
Linear interpolation involves estimating a new value by connecting two adjacent known values
with a straight line.
If the two known values are (x1, y1) and (x2, y2), then the y value for some point x is:

Note: Linear interpolation works best when the function is not changing quickly between known
values. It is probably not the best choice in this example because we don't have many tabulated
points. Dagra, however, will provide enough data points for accurate linear interpolation.