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1.3. The Bisection Method 7

The document describes the bisection method, an algorithm for finding roots of functions. It provides two examples of applying the bisection method to find roots. In the first example, the method is used to find the root of a quadratic function between 1 and 2 over 7 iterations, with the final interval having a width of 0.007812. In the second example, the method finds the root of a cubic function between 1 and 2 over 8 iterations, with the final interval having a width of 0.00390625. It then asks how many iterations would be needed to achieve an accuracy of 10^-4.

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54 views1 page

1.3. The Bisection Method 7

The document describes the bisection method, an algorithm for finding roots of functions. It provides two examples of applying the bisection method to find roots. In the first example, the method is used to find the root of a quadratic function between 1 and 2 over 7 iterations, with the final interval having a width of 0.007812. In the second example, the method finds the root of a cubic function between 1 and 2 over 8 iterations, with the final interval having a width of 0.00390625. It then asks how many iterations would be needed to achieve an accuracy of 10^-4.

Uploaded by

aliscribd46
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.3.

THE BISECTION METHOD

Table 1.1. Results of Example 1.5.


n
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

xn
1.500000
1.250000
1.375000
1.437500
1.406250
1.421875
1.414063

an
1
1
1.250000
1.375000
1.375000
1.406250
1.406250
1.414063

bn
|xn1 xn | f (xn ) f (an )
2

1.500000
.500000
+

1.500000
.250000

1.500000
.125000

1.437500
.062500
+

1.437500
.031250

1.421875
.015625
+

1.421875
.007812

Table 1.2. Results of Example 1.6.


n
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

xn
1.500000000
1.250000000
1.375000000
1.312500000
1.343750000
1.359375000
1.367187500
1.363281250

an
1
1
1.250000000
1.250000000
1.312500000
1.343750000
1.359375000
1.359375000
1.363281250

bn
f (xn )
2
1.500000000
+
1.500000000

1.375000000
+
1.375000000

1.375000000

1.375000000

1.367187500
+
1.367187500

f (an )

then f (x) has a root, p, in [1, 2]. This root is unique since f (x) is strictly increasing
on [1, 2]; in fact
f (x) = 3 x2 + 4 x > 0 for all x between 1 and 2.
The results are listed in Table 1.2.
After eight iterations, we find that p lies between 1.363281250 and 1.367187500.
Therefore, the absolute error in p is bounded by
1.367187500 1.363281250 = 0.00390625. 
Example 1.7. Find the number of iterations needed in Example 1.6 to have
an absolute error less than 104 .
Solution. Since the root, p, lies in each interval [an , bn ], after n iterations
the error is at most bn an . Thus, we want to find n such that bn an < 104 .
Since, at each iteration, the length of the interval is halved, it is easy to see that
bn an = (2 1)/2n .
Therefore, n satisfies the inequality
2n < 104 ,
that is,
ln 2n < ln 104 ,

or

n ln 2 < 4 ln 10.

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