CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction
Transcendental equations are equations containing terms that are trigonometric, algebraic,

exponential, logarithmic, terms and so on. Many analytical and iterative methods are used to solve

transcendental equations. Though these methods are capable of solving many transcendental

equations, they suffer from many common disadvantages. Usually transcendental equations have

many solutions in a given range, and analytical methods are not able to find all these roots in a

given interval. Even when they find several solutions, it is not possible to conclude that the given

method has found the complete set of roots/solutions, and has not missed any particular solution.

Also, these methods fail in case of misbehaved or discontinuous functions. Hence, though these

methods may work very well in some situations, they are not general in nature and need a lot of

homework from the Analyst.

Newton Raphson method is a commonly used method for solving transcendental equations. The

method makes use of the slope of the curve at different points. Therefore, if the function is non

differentiable at points or has a point of inflection, the method is not able to find the root. Secondly,

if the function changes its slope very quickly (frequently achieves slope of zero), or is

discontinuous, it cannot be solved by this method. If the function is discrete, the derivative has no

meaning for it and this method cannot be used. Also there is no straightforward way to find all the

roots in an interval or even ascertain the number of roots in the interval.

Bisection method needs two points a,( f(a)) and b,( f(b )) on the graph such that f(a) ∙ f(b)  0 .

There is no straightforward analytical method to find these points. Another problem lies in

choosing the distance between the points a and b. For the method to work, a and b should be close
enough, such that the function behaves monotonously in these limits. At the same time, a small

difference in values of a and b makes it difficult to search the sample space. An algorithm to

ascertain such points for all roots of the equation has to be essentially random in nature and it can

be another application of genetic algorithm (GA). This will be discussed later. Further still, the

method fails for discontinuities in a function.

Definition 1:

Transcendental equation: A mathematical equation that involves transcendental functions such as

exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, or hyperbolic functions. These equations cannot be

solved algebraically, which means that there is no finite sequence of arithmetic operations and

elementary functions that can solve them.

Definition 2:

Clamped cubic spline: A piecewise cubic polynomial function that interpolates a set of data

points while ensuring that the first derivative at the endpoints is specified. This type of spline is

called "clamped" because the first derivatives at the endpoints are clamped to a specified value.

Definition 3:

Root(s) of an equation: The value(s) of the variable that satisfy the equation, i.e., make the

equation equal to zero.

Definition 4:

Newton-Raphson method: A numerical method for finding the roots of a function by using an

iterative formula that uses the first derivative of the function. The method starts with an initial
guess and iteratively improves the estimate of the root until a desired level of accuracy is

achieved.

Definition 5:

Bisection method: A numerical method for finding the roots of a function by repeatedly dividing

the interval that brackets the root in half and determining which half the root lies in. The method

starts with an interval that brackets the root and iteratively refines the interval until a desired

level of accuracy is achieved.

Definition 6:

Iterative formula: A formula that defines an iterative sequence for approximating the solution of

an equation. The formula involves using the previous estimate of the solution to obtain a new

estimate that is closer to the actual solution.

Definition 7:

Initial guess: An estimate of the solution of an equation that is used as the starting point for an

iterative method. The choice of the initial guess can affect the rate of convergence and the

accuracy of the solution.

Definition 8:

Accuracy of the solution: A measure of how close the estimated solution is to the actual solution

of the equation. The accuracy can be evaluated by checking the value of the function at the

estimated solution and verifying that it is close to zero.

If 𝑓(𝑥) is a real and continuous function in an interval 𝑎 ≤ 𝑥 ≤ 𝑏, and 𝑓(𝑎) and 𝑓(𝑏)are of

opposite signs i.e.𝑓(𝑎). 𝑓(𝑏) < 0 then there is at least one real root in the interval between 𝑎 and

𝑏.

Definition 10:

By clamped cubic spline interpolation we can easily make a cubic polynomial using two Aend

points of the function (𝑎, 𝑓(𝑎) and 𝑏, 𝑓(𝑏)) that can represent our assumed transcendental function.

Definition 11:

From a cubic equation, out of the three roots we must find at least one real root 𝑥1 lying in the

interval ⌊𝑎, 𝑏⌋ which is our first approximate root of 𝑓(𝑥) = 0. Checking sign of 𝑓(𝑥1) ) we replace

𝑥1 for 𝑎 or 𝑏 for furthers iterations.

The Cubic splines interpolation algorithm does not work well for interpolation when the x values

are larger and have a large distance between them. Under these circumstances, cubic splines

interpolation becomes very unstable making interpolations incorrect by many orders of magnitude
4.0 Aim and Objectives

A cubic spline is a piecewise cubic function that interpolates a set of data points and guarantees

smoothness at the points and the objectives are as follows;

I. To avoid the problem of Runge’s Phenomenon.

II. To gives an interpolating polynomial that is smoother and has smaller error than some other

interpolating polynomials such as Lagrange polynomial and Newton polynomial.

This Project will only focus on studying the Solutions of Transcendental Equation using Clamped

Cubic Spline.
6.0 Significance of the Study

The use of transcendental functions is widely employed in science and engineering because

they allow to perform the modelling and simulation of physical phenomena.

Literature Review

In the early 16th century the Italian mathematician Scipione del Ferro (1465-1526) found a method

for solving a class of cubic equations of the form 𝑥 3 + 𝑚𝑥 = 𝑛. In 1530 there was a famous contest

between Niccolò Tartaglia (1500–1557) and Antonio Fiore, the student of Del Ferro, 48 Mostak

Ahmed and Samir Kumar Bhowmik where Tartaglia won the contest. Gerolamo Cardano (1501–

1576) learned about Ferro's prior work and published Ferro's method in his book Ars Magna in

1545. Again Tartaglia challenged to Cardano, which Cardano denied. The challenge was

eventually accepted by Cardano's student Lodovico Ferrari (1522–1565). Ferrari did better than

Tartaglia in the competition, and Tartaglia lost both his prestige and income.

The general cubic equation has the form;

𝑎𝑥 3 +𝑏𝑥 2 + 𝑐𝑥 + 𝑑 = 0

With a  0 and the coefficients a,b,c,d are generally assumed to be real numbers.

We can distinguish several possible cases using the discriminant,

∆= 18𝑎𝑏𝑐𝑑 − 4𝑏 3 𝑑 + 𝑏 2 𝑐 2 − 4𝑎𝑐 3 − 27𝑎2 𝑑 2 .

The following cases need to be considered:

 If   0, then the equation has three distinct real roots.

 If   0, then the equation has a multiple root and all its roots are real.
  If   0 , then the equation has one real root and two nonreal complex conjugate

roots. Every cubic equation with real coefficients has at least one solution x among

the real numbers; this is a consequence of the intermediate value theorem. And the

real solution is:

𝑏
𝑥=−
3𝑎

1 1
− √ [2𝑏 3 − 9𝑎𝑏𝑐 + 27𝑎2 𝑑 + √(2𝑏 3 − 9𝑎𝑏𝑐 + 27𝑎2 𝑑)2 − 4(𝑏 2 − 3𝑎𝑐)2 ]
3𝑎 2

1 1
− √ [2𝑏 3 − 9𝑎𝑏𝑐 + 27𝑎2 𝑑 − √(2𝑏 3 − 9𝑎𝑏𝑐 + 27𝑎2 𝑑)2 − 4(𝑏 2 − 3𝑎𝑐)2 ]
3𝑎 2

A clamped cubic spline is a piecewise cubic polynomial function that is used to interpolate data

points. It can also be used to approximate solutions to transcendental equations by finding the roots

of the spline function. Here is the general approach to solving a transcendental equation using

clamped cubic spline:

1. Choose a set of data points that bracket the root(s) of the transcendental equation.

2. Construct a clamped cubic spline that interpolates the data points.

3. Find the roots of the spline function by using numerical methods such as the Newton-

Raphson method or the bisection method.

4. Check the accuracy of the solution by evaluating the transcendental equation at the

estimated root(s) and verifying that the result is close to zero.

cubic spline:

1. Choose the data points x = -1, -0.5, 0, 0.5, 1. These points bracket the root(s) of the

equation.

2. Construct a clamped cubic spline that interpolates the data points. This can be done using

various algorithms, such as the Thomas algorithm or the cubic spline algorithm.

3. Find the roots of the spline function using numerical methods. For example, we can use

the Newton-Raphson method with an initial guess of x = -0.5. The iterative formula for the

Newton-Raphson method is:

𝑥{𝑛+1} = 𝑥𝑛 𝑓(𝑥 − 𝑛)/𝑓 1 (𝑥 − 𝑛)

where f(x) = x + tan(x) and f'(x) = 1 + sec^2(x). Applying this formula, we obtain the following

iteration:

x0 = -0.5

x1 = -0.558599

x2 = -0.567143

x3 = -0.567148

The final result is x = -0.567148, which is an estimate of the root of the transcendental equation.

1. Check the accuracy of the solution by evaluating the equation at

x = -0.567148:f(-0.567148) = -3.51148 x 10-11

Transcendental equations are equations that involve transcendental functions such as

trigonometric, exponential, or logarithmic functions, rather than algebraic functions like

polynomials. These equations cannot be solved algebraically, but must be solved using numerical

methods.

One of the most famous transcendental equations is the equation 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑥 = 0, which has no algebraic

solution. However, it can be solved using numerical methods such as the Newton-Raphson

method, which involves iteratively refining an initial guess until a solution is found.

Other examples of transcendental equations include the Bessel equation, which arises in the

study of cylindrical and spherical wave functions, and the gamma function, which arises in the

study of complex analysis and probability theory.

Transcendental equations play an important role in many areas of mathematics, physics, and

engineering, and are used in a variety of applications such as signal processing, control theory,

and numerical analysis.

Transcendental equations are mathematical equations that involve transcendental functions such

as exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, or hyperbolic functions. These equations cannot be

solved algebraically, which means that there is no finite sequence of arithmetic operations and

elementary functions that can solve them. Instead, transcendental equations must be solved using

numerical methods or approximations.

𝑒 𝑥 − 3𝑥 = 0

This equation is transcendental because it involves the exponential function e^x. We cannot

solve this equation algebraically to find an exact value for x, but we can use numerical methods

such as iteration or approximation to find an approximate value for x.

Transcendental equations arise in many areas of mathematics, physics, engineering, and other

sciences, and they can be challenging to solve. However, numerical methods and computer

algorithms have made it possible to solve many complex transcendental equations efficiently and

accurately.