Newtons Method

Lets find a root of the equation

That means finding a number

such that

. Such number is also

called a zero of the function .

Newtons Approach:
If

is differentiable near the root, then tangent lines can be used to produce

a sequence of approximations to the root that approaches the root quite

quickly.
Make an initial guess at the root, say
at

Let

The tangent to the curve

is given by

be the zero of the tangent. Then, we have

Similar formulas produce

from

, then

from

, and so on.

As a

generalization, we can write

which is known as the Newtons Method Formula.

Tools that can be used to calculate the successive approximations

Calculator (Ex. http://web2.0calc.com/ )

Spreadsheet Software (Ex. Microsoft Excel)
Interactive Graphing Software (Ex. GeoGebra)
After trying all these tools, I found that GeoGebra is the most convenient
and flexible tool for solving problems of this type. Moreover, we can observe
whether these approximations appear to converge to a limit.

The number
, then
graph of

will be a zero if

must be a zero of

exists, and if

is continuous near

. However, convergence will not occur if the

has horizontal or vertical tangent at any of the numbers in the

sequence. This method is known as Newtons Method or The NewtonRaphson Method.

Example 1:
Use Newtons method to find all roots of the equation

correct to ten decimal places.

Solution:
To find the roots of the equation

That is, if we take

we need to approximate all zeroes of

correct to six decimal places.

Now,

The Newtons Method Formula is

Let the initial guess be

. Now,

and

. Thus,

Now, a question arises how to do all these calculations. Here, we have to

use a worksheet software, like Excel or GeoGebra Spreadsheet View.
Step 1:
Open GeoGebra
Step 2:
Input: f(x) = x^4 x-1. Graph of f will be displaced.
Step 3:
Input: Derivative[f]. Graph of f will be displayed
Step 4:
Options Rounding (Choose Number of Decimal Places)

Step 5:
View Spreadsheet (Select)

Step 6:
A Spreadsheet View appears
Step 7:
Enter initial guess 1 in the cell A1, =f(A1) in the cell B1, = f(A1) in
the cell C1 as shown below:

Step 8:
Enter =(A1)-((B1)/(C1)) in the cell A2, =f(A2) in the cell B2, =f(A2) in the
cell C2.
Then, select the cells A2, B2, and C2 and drag down.

Step 9:
This looks like the following after dragging down:

Step 10:
We can see that a zero near to x= 1 and corrected to 10 decimal places
would be

Note:
Sketching the graph would be useful in determining an initial guess
a rough sketch of the graph of
equation

. Even

can show you how many roots the

has and approximately where they are. Usually, the closer

the initial approximation is to the actual root, the smaller the number of
iterations needed to achieve the desired precision.
The graph of the above function is:

We can see that there is another root near to

. Now, we take

and just change its value in the cell A1 of the Spreadsheet View.

We can see that

is another root to the given equation.

Idea
Once you are comfortable in using GeoGebra for solving equations using
Newtons Method, you can use the same GeoGebra file (save it as
newton.ggb on desktop) by just changing the function, number of decimal
places, and initial guess.
Example 2
Let us solve the equation

to 11 decimal places.

Step 1:
Set number of decimal places to 15.

Step 2:
Change the function by double clicking on it in Algebraic View.

Step 3:
Change initial guess (Cell A1) in the Spreadsheet View.
based on the graph.

We can see that

Let us take

First Warning
Before you try to use Newtons Method to find a real root of a function , you
should make sure that a real root actually exists. If you use the method of
starting with a real initial guess, but the function has no real root nearby,
the successive approximations can exhibit strange behavior.
Example 3:
Consider tehf unction

. It is clear that

it does have complex roots

. Here,

And hence, the Newtons Method formula for

Let us take the initial guess

has no real roots though

is

, and iterate the formula for several times.

Here, let us plot the resulting points

using GeoGebra as shown below.

Second Warning
Newtons Method does not always work as well as it does in the first two
examples. A single iteration of the formula can take us from quite close to
the root to quite far away
If the first derivative

is very small near the root, or

If the second derivative

is very large near the root.

Example 4 (Divergent Oscillations):

Let us apply Newtons Method to
Solution:
Here,

And,

Now, the Newtons Method formula is

with

Now,

Here, the first derivative

is very small near the root.

Example 5 (Convergent Oscillations):

Let us take the function

with initial guess

Now,

The Newtons Method formula is given by

Thus,
,

Example 6 (Oscillation):
Let us take

and

Now,

The Newtons Method formula is

Given that