1.4.

2 False-Position Method of Solving a Nonlinear

Introduction
In Chapter 03.03, the bisection method was described as one of the simple bracketing
methods of solving a nonlinear equation of the general form
f ( x)  0 (1)
f x 

f xU 

Exact root

xL
O xr xU x

f xL 
Figure 1 False-Position Method

The above nonlinear equation can be stated as finding the value of x such that Equation (1) is
satisfied.
In the bisection method, we identify proper values of x L (lower bound value) and xU (upper
bound value) for the current bracket, such that
f ( x L ) f ( xU )  0 . (2)
The next predicted/improved root x r can be computed as the midpoint between x L and xU
as
x  xU
xr  L (3)
2
The new upper and lower bounds are then established, and the procedure is repeated until the
convergence is achieved (such that the new lower and upper bounds are sufficiently close to
each other).
However, in the example shown in Figure 1, the bisection method may not be efficient
because it does not take into consideration that f ( x L ) is much closer to the zero of the
function f (x) as compared to f ( xU ) . In other words, the next predicted root xr would be
closer to xL (in the example as shown in Figure 1), than the mid-point between xL and xU .
The false-position method takes advantage of this observation mathematically by drawing a
secant from the function value at xL to the function value at xU , and estimates the root as
where it crosses the x-axis.

False-Position Method
Based on two similar triangles, shown in Figure 1, one gets
0  f ( x L ) 0  f ( xU )
 (4)
xr  x L x r  xU
From Equation (4), one obtains
xr  x L  f xU   xr  xU  f x L 
xU f  x L   x L f  xU   x r  f  x L   f  xU 
The above equation can be solved to obtain the next predicted root x m as
x f  x L   x L f  xU 
xr  U (5)
f  x L   f  xU 
The above equation, through simple algebraic manipulations, can also be expressed as
f  xU 
x r  xU  (6)
 f  x L   f  xU  
 
 x L  xU 
or
f x L 
xr  xL  (7)
 f  xU   f  x L  
 
 xU  x L 
Observe the resemblance of Equations (6) and (7) to the secant method.

False-Position Algorithm
The steps to apply the false-position method to find the root of the equation f x   0 are as
follows.
1. Choose x L and xU as two guesses for the root such that f  x L  f  xU   0 , or in other words,
f x  changes sign between x L and xU .
2. Estimate the root, x r of the equation f  x   0 as
x f  x L   x L f  xU 
xr  U
f  x L   f  xU 
3. Now check the following
If f  x L  f  x r   0 , then the root lies between x L and xr ; then x L  x L and xU  x r .
If f  x L  f  x r   0 , then the root lies between xr and xU ; then x L  x r and xU  xU .
If f  x L  f  x r   0 , then the root is x r . Stop the algorithm.
4. Find the new estimate of the root
x f  x L   x L f  xU 
xr  U
f  x L   f  xU 
Find the absolute relative approximate error as
x new  x old
a  r new r  100
xr
where
x rnew = estimated root from present iteration
x rold = estimated root from previous iteration
5. Compare the absolute relative approximate error a with the pre-specified relative error
tolerance s . If a s , then go to step 3, else stop the algorithm. Note one should also
check whether the number of iterations is more than the maximum number of iterations
allowed. If so, one needs to terminate the algorithm and notify the user about it.
Note that the false-position and bisection algorithms are quite similar. The only difference is
the formula used to calculate the new estimate of the root x r as shown in steps #2 and #4!

Example 1
You are working for “DOWN THE TOILET COMPANY” that makes floats for ABC
commodes. The floating ball has a specific gravity of 0.6 and has a radius of 5.5cm. You are
asked to find the depth to which the ball is submerged when floating in water. The equation
that gives the depth x to which the ball is submerged under water is given by
x 3  0.165 x 2  3.993  10 4  0
Use the false-position method of finding roots of equations to find the depth x to which the
ball is submerged under water. Conduct three iterations to estimate the root of the above
equation. Find the absolute relative approximate error at the end of each iteration, and the
number of significant digits at least correct at the end of third iteration.

Figure 2 Floating ball problem.

Solution
From the physics of the problem, the ball would be submerged between x  0 and x  2 R ,
where
R  radius of the ball,
that is
0  x  2R
0  x  2(0.055)
0  x  0.11
Let us assume
x L  0, xU  0.11
Check if the function changes sign between x L and xU
3 2
f  x L   f 0  0  0.1650  3.993  10 4  3.993  10 4
f  xU   f 0.11  0.11  0.1650.11  3.993  10  4  2.662  10 4
3 2

Hence
f  x L  f  xU   f 0 f 0.11  3.993  10 4  2.662  10 4   0
Therefore, there is at least one root between x L and xU , that is between 0 and 0.11.

Table 1 Root of f  x   x 3  0.165 x 2  3.993  10 4  0 for false-position method.

Example 2
2
Find the root of f  x    x  4  x  2   0 , using the initial guesses of x L  2.5 and
xU  1.0, and a pre-specified tolerance of s  0.1% .
Solution
The individual iterations are not shown for this example, but the results are summarized in
Table 2. It takes five iterations to meet the pre-specified tolerance.
2
Table 2 Root of f  x    x  4  x  2   0 for false-position method.
Iteration x L xU f  x L  f  xU  xr a % f xm 
1 -2.5 -1 -21.13 25.00 -1.813 N/A 6.319
2 -2.5 -1.813 -21.13 6.319 -1.971 8.024 1.028
3 -2.5 -1.971 -21.13 1.028 -1.996 1.229 0.1542
4 -2.5 -1.996 -21.13 0.1542 -1.999 0.1828 0.02286
5 -2.5 -1.999 -21.13 0.02286 -2.000 0.02706 0.003383
To find how many significant digits are at least correct in the last iterative answer,
a  0.5  10 2m
0.02706  0.5  10 2m
m  3.2666
Hence, at least 3 significant digits can be trusted to be accurate at the end of the fifth
iteration.