Study guide: Introduction to finite element methods

$$ \newcommand{\uex}{{u_{\small\mbox{e}}}} \newcommand{\Aex}{{A_{\small\mbox{e}}}} \newcommand{\half}{\frac{1}{2}} \newcommand{\tp}{\thinspace .} \newcommand{\Oof}[1]{\mathcal{O}(#1)} \newcommand{\x}{\boldsymbol{x}} \newcommand{\X}{\boldsymbol{X}} \renewcommand{\u}{\boldsymbol{u}} \renewcommand{\v}{\boldsymbol{v}} \newcommand{\e}{\boldsymbol{e}} \newcommand{\f}{\boldsymbol{f}} \newcommand{\dfc}{\alpha} % diffusion coefficient \newcommand{\Ix}{\mathcal{I}_x} \newcommand{\Iy}{\mathcal{I}_y} \newcommand{\Iz}{\mathcal{I}_z} \newcommand{\If}{\mathcal{I}_s} % for FEM \newcommand{\Ifd}{{I_d}} % for FEM \newcommand{\Ifb}{{I_b}} % for FEM \newcommand{\sequencei}[1]{\left\{ {#1}_i \right\}_{i\in\If}} \newcommand{\basphi}{\varphi} \newcommand{\baspsi}{\psi} \newcommand{\refphi}{\tilde\basphi} \newcommand{\psib}{\boldsymbol{\psi}} \newcommand{\sinL}[1]{\sin\left((#1+1)\pi\frac{x}{L}\right)} \newcommand{\xno}[1]{x_{#1}} \newcommand{\Xno}[1]{X_{(#1)}} \newcommand{\xdno}[1]{\boldsymbol{x}_{#1}} \newcommand{\dX}{\, \mathrm{d}X} \newcommand{\dx}{\, \mathrm{d}x} \newcommand{\ds}{\, \mathrm{d}s} $$

Least squares method; solution

Let sympy do the work ($ f(x)=2 $):

from sympy import *
import sys

i, j = symbols('i j', integer=True)
x, L = symbols('x L')
f = 2
a = 2*L/(pi**2*(i+1)**2)
c_i = a*integrate(f*sin((i+1)*pi*x/L), (x, 0, L))
c_i = simplify(c_i)
print c_i

$$ \begin{equation*} c_i = 4 \frac{L^{2} \left(\left(-1\right)^{i} + 1\right)}{\pi^{3} \left(i^{3} + 3 i^{2} + 3 i + 1\right)},\quad u(x) = \sum_{k=0}^{N/2} \frac{8L^2}{\pi^3(2k+1)^3}\sinL{2k} \end{equation*} $$

Fast decay: $ c_2 = c_0/27 $, $ c_4=c_0/125 $ - only one term might be good enough: $$ \begin{equation*} u(x) \approx \frac{8L^2}{\pi^3}\sin\left(\pi\frac{x}{L}\right) \end{equation*} $$