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Week 12.3E Newtons Method

The document discusses Newton's method for finding approximations of roots of equations. It provides the definition and formula for Newton's method. Several examples are worked through to demonstrate how to apply Newton's method to approximate roots of various equations.

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27 views

Week 12.3E Newtons Method

The document discusses Newton's method for finding approximations of roots of equations. It provides the definition and formula for Newton's method. Several examples are worked through to demonstrate how to apply Newton's method to approximate roots of various equations.

Uploaded by

ludicksizwe1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Week 12

Topic 3. Newton’s Method (Stewart, pp. 280 – 285)

1 Introduction
Definition 1. Newton’s Method is an attempt to approximate the value of a solution of
equations in the following from:
f (x) = 0, where f is a differentiable function.
Newton’s Metod generates a sequence of approximations
x1 , x2 , . . . , xn , . . .
where x1 is an initial guess for a root, and the terms that follows are given by the recursive
formula
f (xn
xn+1 = xn − ′
f (xn )

Remark.
• If the sequence of numbers xn converge to a number r, then r is a root of the equation
f (x) = 0.
• xn is called the n-th approximation.
• Newton’s Method is not always guaranteed to work, but for most cases it will work provided
we made a suitable choice for x1 .
• Newton’s Method only provide one approximated value of one solution.

Motivating Newton’s Method


We guess an initial approximation
 x1 of an x-intercept of the function f . We then determine the
tangent line at x1 , f (x1 ) :

Where this tangent line

y − f (x1 ) = f ′ (x1 )(x − x1 )

1
cut the x-axis, is our second approximation x2 . That is, with the assumption that f ′ (x1 ) ̸= 0,
f (x1 )
0 − f (x1 ) = f ′ (x1 )(x2 − x1 ) =⇒ x2 = x1 −
f ′ (x1 )
This x2 is closer than
 x1 to the x-intercept We repeat this process with x2 : determine the tangent
line at x2 , f (x2 ) and let x3 be the x-intercept of that line:

The formula for x3 is like the previous formula for x2 , but just with x1 replaced by x2 . More
generally, the (n + 1)-th approximation of an x-intercept is
f (xn )
xn+1 = xn − , with f ′ (xn ) ̸= 0
f ′ (xn )

2 Examples
Example 2. Consider the equation

x3 + x − 1 = 0

Use x1 = 1 as a first approximation for a root of the equation and calculate the third approximation
x3 with Newton’s Method.

Solution: Set f (x) = x3 + x − 1. Then f ′ (x) = 3x2 + 1.


From Newton’s Method:
f (xn ) x3n + xn − 1 2x3n + 1
xn+1 = xn − = x n − =
f ′ (xn ) 3x2n + 1 3x2n + 1
By starting with x1 = 1, we get
33 27
2 · 13 + 1 3 2· 43
+1 32 +1 27 + 32 59
x2 = = =⇒ x3 = 32
= 27 = =
3 · 12 + 1 4 3· +1 16 +1 54 + 32 86
42

For interest sake, x33 + x3 − 1 = 0.00894 . . ., which seems very close to a solution.

Remark. Notice that f (0) = −1 < 0 and f (1) = 1 > 0. Thus, according to the Intermediate
Value Theorem, there exists an r ∈ (0, 1) such that f (r) = 0. That explains our initial choice of
x1 = 1. What would happen if we choose x1 = 0?

2
Example 3. Consider the equation

x3 − 5x = 0

(a) What would happen if we apply Newton’s Method with x1 = 1?


(b) What would happen if we apply Newton’s Method with x1 = 2?

Solution: Since

f (x) = x3 − 5x and f ′ (x) = 3x2 − 5

the n-th approximation, according to Newton’s Method, is

x3n − 5xn 2x3


xn+1 = xn − 2
= 2 n
3xn − 5 3xn − 5

(a) with x1 = 1, we get


2·1 2 · (−1)
x1 = 1 x2 = = −1 x3 = =1
3·1−5 3·1−5
x4 = . . . = −1 x5 = . . . = 1
We are stuck in a cycle, but neither x = 1 nor x = −1 is a solution of x3 − 5x = 0! Thus,
Newton’s Method does not work here with x1 = 1 or x1 = −1.
(b) With x1 = 2, we get (with a computer)
x1 = 2.000000 x2 = 2.285714 x3 = 2.237640
x4 = 2.236070 x5 = 2.236068 x6 = 2.236068
which approaches to a root. The x5 is at least 6 decimals correct to a root.
√
6
Example 4. Use Newton’s Method to determine 2 correct to eight decimal places.
√
6
Solution: By definition, 2 is the positive root of

x6 − 2 = 0

We thus set f (x) = x6 − 2. Further, f ′ (x) = 6x5 . The formula for xn+1 is thus

x6n − 2
xn+1 = xn −
6x5n

With a computer and x1 , we get


x1 = 1.00000000 x2 ≈ 1.16666667 x3 ≈ 1.12644368
x4 ≈ 1.12249707 x5 ≈ 1.12246205 x6 ≈ 1.12246205
Since x5 and x6 agrees on eight decimal places, we deduce that
√
6
2 ≈ 1.12246205

3
Remark. For interest sake, there are many methods to determine roots of equations. For example,
to solve

f (x) = x6 − 2 = 0

we could have choose a1 = 1 and b1 = 2. Since f (a2 ) < 0 and f (b1 ) > 0, according to the
Intermediate Value Theorem, there exists a root in [a1 , b1 ]. Let m = (a1 + b1 )/2 be the mean of a1
and b1 . If f (m) < 0, let a2 = m and b2 = b1 , else let a2 = a1 and b2 = m. We thus get an interval
[ab , b2 ] with half the length of [a1 , b1 ] in which the root lies. By repeating
√ this process until an and
bn differs with less that 10−8 , we will also get an approximation of 6 2 to eight decimal accurate.
But here we have to repeat the process almost 30 times, instead of just 6 times with Newton’s
Method! Though, an advantage of this inefficient method, is that it will always give a solution,
provided the function is continuous.
Example 5. Determine the root of the following equation to six decimal places.

cos x = x

Solution: We first rewrite the equation in standard form:

cos x − x = 0

We thus let

f (x) = cos x − x =⇒ f ′ (x) = − sin x − 1

According to Newton’s Method


cos xn − xn cos xn − xn
xn+1 = xn − = xn +
− sin xn − 1 sin xn + 1
With a computer, we get
x1 = 1.000000 x2 ≈ 0.750364 x3 ≈ 0.739113
x4 ≈ 0.739085 x5 ≈ 0.739085
Since x4 and x5 agrees to six decimal places, we deduce that the root of cos x = x, correct to six
decimal places, is

x ≈ 0.739085

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