Numerical Methods and

Optimization
Topic 2:
Solution of Nonlinear Equations
Lectures 5-11:

Read Chapters 5 and 6 of the textbook

1
 Lecture 5
Solution of Nonlinear Equations
( Root Finding Problems )
 Definitions
 Classification of Methods
 Analytical Solutions
 Graphical Methods
 Numerical Methods
 Bracketing Methods
 Open Methods
 Convergence Notations

Reading Assignment: Sections 5.1 and 5.2

2
Root Finding Problems
Many problems in Science and Engineering are
expressed as:

Given a continuous function f(x),

find the value r such that f (r )  0

These problems are called root finding

problems.

3
Roots of Equations
A number r that satisfies an equation is called a
root of the equation.
The equation : x 4  3x 3  7 x 2  15 x  18
has four roots :  2, 3, 3 , and  1 .
i.e., x 4  3x 3  7 x 2  15 x  18  ( x  2)( x  3) 2 ( x  1)
The equation has two simple roots (1 and  2)
and a repeated root (3) with multiplici ty  2.

4
Zeros of a Function
Let f(x) be a real-valued function of a real
variable. Any number r for which f(r)=0 is
called a zero of the function.

Examples:
2 and 3 are zeros of the function f(x) = (x-2)(x-3).

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Graphical Interpretation of Zeros

 The real zeros of a

f(x)
function f(x) are the
values of x at which
the graph of the
function crosses (or
touches) the x-axis.

Real zeros of f(x)

6
Simple Zeros
f ( x)  x  1( x  2)

f ( x)  ( x  1)x  2  x  x  2
2

has two simple zeros (one at x  2 and one at x  1)

7
Multiple Zeros

f ( x)  x  1
2

f ( x)  x  1  x  2 x  1
2 2

has double zeros (zero with muliplicit y  2) at x  1

8
Multiple Zeros
f ( x)  x 3

f ( x)  x
3

has a zero with muliplicit y  3 at x  0

9
Facts
 Any nth order polynomial has exactly n
zeros (counting real and complex zeros
with their multiplicities).
 Any polynomial with an odd order has at
least one real zero.
 If a function has a zero at x=r with
multiplicity m then the function and its
first (m-1) derivatives are zero at x=r
and the mth derivative at r is not zero.

10
Roots of Equations & Zeros of Function
Given the equation :
x 4  3 x 3  7 x 2  15 x  18
Move all terms to one side of the equation :
x 4  3 x 3  7 x 2  15 x  18  0
Define f ( x) as :
f ( x)  x 4  3 x 3  7 x 2  15 x  18

The zeros of f ( x) are the same as the roots of the equation f ( x)  0

(Which are  2, 3, 3, and  1)

11
Solution Methods
Several ways to solve nonlinear equations are
possible:

 Analytical Solutions
 Possible for special equations only
 Graphical Solutions
 Useful for providing initial guesses for other
methods
 Numerical Solutions
 Open methods
 Bracketing methods

12
Analytical Methods
Analytical Solutions are available for special
equations only.

Analytical solution of : a x 2  b x  c  0
 b  b 2  4ac
roots 
2a

No analytical solution is available for : x  e x  0

13
Graphical Methods
 Graphical methods are useful to provide an
initial guess to be used by other methods.

x
Solve e
2 Root
x
xe x
The root  [0,1] 1

root  0.6
1 2

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Numerical Methods
Many methods are available to solve nonlinear
equations:
 Bisection Method
 Newton’s Method These will be
 Secant Method covered in CISE301
 False position Method
 Muller’s Method
 Bairstow’s Method
 Fixed point iterations
 ……….

15
Bracketing Methods
 In bracketing methods, the method starts
with an interval that contains the root and
a procedure is used to obtain a smaller
interval containing the root.

 Examples of bracketing methods:

 Bisection method
 False position method

16
Open Methods
 In the open methods, the method starts
with one or more initial guess points. In
each iteration, a new guess of the root is
obtained.
 Open methods are usually more efficient
than bracketing methods.
 They may not converge to a root.

17
Convergence Notation
A sequence x1 , x2 ,..., xn ,... is said to converge to x if
to every   0 there exists N such that :

xn  x   n  N

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Convergence Notation
Let x1 , x2 ,...., converge to x.
xn 1  x
Linear Convergenc e : C
xn  x
xn 1  x
Quadratic Convergenc e : C
xn  x
2

xn 1  x
Convergenc e of order P : C
xn  x
p

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Speed of Convergence
 We can compare different methods in
terms of their convergence rate.
 Quadratic convergence is faster than
linear convergence.
 A method with convergence order q
converges faster than a method with
convergence order p if q>p.
 Methods of convergence order p>1 are
said to have super linear convergence.

20
 Lectures 6-7
Bisection Method
 The Bisection Algorithm
 Convergence Analysis of Bisection Method
 Examples

Reading Assignment: Sections 5.1 and 5.2

21
Introduction
 The Bisection method is one of the simplest
methods to find a zero of a nonlinear function.
 It is also called interval halving method.
 To use the Bisection method, one needs an initial
interval that is known to contain a zero of the
function.
 The method systematically reduces the interval.
It does this by dividing the interval into two equal
parts, performs a simple test and based on the
result of the test, half of the interval is thrown
away.
 The procedure is repeated until the desired
interval size is obtained.
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Intermediate Value Theorem
 Let f(x) be defined on the
interval [a,b].
f(a)
 Intermediate value theorem:
if a function is continuous
and f(a) and f(b) have a b
different signs then the
function has at least one zero f(b)
in the interval [a,b].

23
 Examples
 If f(a) and f(b) have the
same sign, the function
may have an even
number of real zeros or a b
no real zeros in the
interval [a, b].
The function has four real zeros
 Bisection method can
not be used in these
cases.
a b
The function has no real zeros

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Two More Examples
 If f(a) and f(b) have
different signs, the
function has at least
one real zero.
a b

The function has one real zero

 Bisection method
can be used to find
one of the zeros. a b

The function has three real zeros

25
Bisection Method
 If the function is continuous on [a,b] and
f(a) and f(b) have different signs,
Bisection method obtains a new interval
that is half of the current interval and the
sign of the function at the end points of
the interval are different.

 This allows us to repeat the Bisection

procedure to further reduce the size of the
interval.

26
Bisection Method
Assumptions:
Given an interval [a,b]
f(x) is continuous on [a,b]
f(a) and f(b) have opposite signs.

These assumptions ensure the existence of at

least one zero in the interval [a,b] and the
bisection method can be used to obtain a smaller
interval that contains the zero.

27
Bisection Algorithm
Assumptions:
 f(x) is continuous on [a,b]
 f(a) f(b) < 0
f(a)
Algorithm:
Loop
1. Compute the mid point c=(a+b)/2
c b
2. Evaluate f(c) a
3. If f(a) f(c) < 0 then new interval [a, c]
If f(a) f(c) > 0 then new interval [c, b] f(b)
End loop

28
Bisection Method

b0
a0 a1 a2

29
Example
+ + -

+ - -

+ + -

30
Flow Chart of Bisection Method
Start: Given a,b and ε

u = f(a) ; v = f(b)

c = (a+b) /2 ; w = f(c) no

yes
is no is
Stop
yes (b-a) /2<ε
u w <0

b=c; v= w a=c; u= w

31
Example
Can you use Bisection method to find a zero of :
f ( x)  x 3  3x  1 in the interval [0,2]?

Answer:
f ( x) is continuous on [0,2]
and f(0) * f(2)  (1)(3)  3  0
 Assumption s are not satisfied
 Bisection method can not be used

32
Example
Can you use Bisection method to find a zero of :
f ( x)  x 3  3x  1 in the interval [0,1]?

Answer:
f ( x) is continuous on [0,1]
and f(0) * f(1)  (1)(-1)  1  0
 Assumption s are satisfied
 Bisection method can be used

33
Best Estimate and Error Level
Bisection method obtains an interval that
is guaranteed to contain a zero of the
function.

Questions:
 What is the best estimate of the zero of f(x)?
 What is the error level in the obtained estimate?

34
Best Estimate and Error Level
The best estimate of the zero of the
function f(x) after the first iteration of the
Bisection method is the mid point of the
initial interval:
ba
Estimate of the zero : r 
2
ba
Error 
2

35
Stopping Criteria
Two common stopping criteria

1. Stop after a fixed number of iterations

2. Stop when the absolute error is less than
a specified value

How are these criteria related?

36
Stopping Criteria
cn : is the midpoint of the interval at the n th iteration
( cn is usually used as the estimate of the root).
r: is the zero of the function.

After n iterations :
b  a x 0
error  r - cn  Ean  n  n
2 2

37
Convergence Analysis
Given f ( x), a, b, and 
How many iterations are needed such that : x - r  
where r is the zero of f(x) and x is the
bisection estimate (i.e., x  ck ) ?

log( b  a )  log(  )
n
log( 2)
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Convergence Analysis – Alternative Form

log( b  a )  log(  )
n
log( 2)

 width of initial interval  ba

n  log 2    log 2  
 desired error    

39
Example
a  6, b  7,   0.0005
How many iterations are needed such that : x - r   ?

log( b  a )  log(  ) log(1)  log( 0.0005)

n   10.9658
log( 2) log( 2)

 n  11

40
Example
 Use Bisection method to find a root of the
equation x = cos (x) with absolute error <0.02
(assume the initial interval [0.5, 0.9])

Question 1: What is f (x) ?

Question 2: Are the assumptions satisfied ?
Question 3: How many iterations are needed ?
Question 4: How to compute the new estimate ?

41
CISE301_Topic2 42
Bisection Method
Initial Interval

f(a)=-0.3776 f(b) =0.2784

Error < 0.2
a =0.5 c= 0.7 b= 0.9

43
Bisection Method

-0.3776 -0.0648 0.2784

Error < 0.1
0.5 0.7 0.9

-0.0648 0.1033 0.2784

Error < 0.05
0.7 0.8 0.9

44
Bisection Method

-0.0648 0.0183 0.1033

Error < 0.025
0.7 0.75 0.8

-0.0648 -0.0235 0.0183

Error < .0125
0.70 0.725 0.75

45
Summary
 Initial interval containing the root:
[0.5,0.9]

 After 5 iterations:
 Interval containing the root: [0.725, 0.75]
 Best estimate of the root is 0.7375
 | Error | < 0.0125

46
A Matlab Program of Bisection Method
a=.5; b=.9; c=
u=a-cos(a); 0.7000
fc =
v=b-cos(b);
-0.0648
for i=1:5
c=
c=(a+b)/2 0.8000
fc=c-cos(c) fc =
if u*fc<0 0.1033
b=c ; v=fc; c=
else 0.7500
a=c; u=fc; fc =
end 0.0183
end c=
0.7250
fc =
-0.0235
47
Example
Find the root of:

f ( x)  x 3  3 x  1 in the interval : [0,1]

* f(x) is continuous
* f( 0 )  1, f (1)  1  f (a ) f (b)  0
 Bisection method can be used to find the root

48
Example
c= (a+b) (b-a)
Iteration a b f(c)
2 2

1 0 1 0.5 -0.375 0.5

2 0 0.5 0.25 0.266 0.25

3 0.25 0.5 .375 -7.23E-3 0.125

4 0.25 0.375 0.3125 9.30E-2 0.0625

5 0.3125 0.375 0.34375 9.37E-3 0.03125

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Bisection Method
Advantages
 Simple and easy to implement
 One function evaluation per iteration
 The size of the interval containing the zero is reduced
by 50% after each iteration
 The number of iterations can be determined a priori
 No knowledge of the derivative is needed
 The function does not have to be differentiable

Disadvantage
 Slow to converge
 Good intermediate approximations may be discarded

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