In [24]: 
from __future__ import division

import numpy as np
import numpy.linalg as la
import matplotlib.pyplot as pt
In [25]: 
mesh = np.linspace(0, 1, 200)
In [26]: 
for i in range(10):
    pt.plot(mesh, mesh**i)

Vandermonde matrix

In [35]: 
n = 5    # also try: 10, 20

V = np.array([mesh**i for i in range(n)]).T
In [36]: 
la.cond(V)
Out[36]:
$$677.44361212$$
In []: