I came across this question:
Suppose $f(x)=x^3-x+\frac{1}{4}$, What's the value of $f [0,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4]$?
The problem is, I have no idea what is being asked, I'm unfamiliar with the notation "$f[0,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4]$".
I came across this question:
Suppose $f(x)=x^3-x+\frac{1}{4}$, What's the value of $f [0,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4]$?
The problem is, I have no idea what is being asked, I'm unfamiliar with the notation "$f[0,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4]$".
This notation is used for divided differences, so perhaps that is what you are being asked to calculate. Giving a context for the question would help: divided differences arise in polynomial interpolation.
As user12477 pointed out, it's Newton's divided differences interpolation polynomial and as J.M. pointed out, while $f(x)$ is a cubic function (polynomial of degree $n=3$), the divided difference on $n+1=4$ points (more than $n$ points generally) is equal to zero.