FALSE-POSITION METHOD OF

SOLVING A NONLINEAR EQUATION

9/7/2017 1
 Introduction
f x 
f ( x)  0 (1)
In the Bisection method
f xU 
f ( xL ) * f ( xU )  0 (2)

xL  xU
Exact root xr  (3)
xL 2
O xr xU x 1

2 f xL  Figure 1 False-Position Method

 False-Position Method
Based on two similar triangles, shown in Figure 1,
one gets:
f ( xL ) f ( xU )
 (4)
xr  xL xr  xU
The signs for both sides of Eq. (4) is consistent, since:

f ( xL )  0; xr  x L  0
f ( xU )  0; xr  xU  0
3
From Eq. (4), one obtains
xr  xL  f xU   xr  xU  f xL 
xU f xL   xL f xU   xr  f xL   f xU 
The above equation can be solved to obtain the next
predicted root xr , as

xU f xL   xL f xU 
xr  (5)
f xL   f xU  4
The above equation,
f xU xL  xU 
xr  xU  (6)
f xL   f xU 

or
f xL 
xr  x L  (7)
 f xU   f xL 
 
 xU  xL  5
 Step-By-Step False-Position
Algorithms
1. Choose x L and xU as two guesses for the root such
that
f xL  f xU   0
xU f xL   xL f xU 
2. Estimate the root,xm 
f xL   f xU 
3. Now check the following
(a) If f xL  f xm   0 , then the root lies betweenx L
and xm ; then xL  xL and xU  xm
(b) If f xL  f xm   0 , then the root lies between
6
xm
and xU ; then xL  xm and xU  xU
 (c) If f xL  f xm   0 , then the root is xm .
Stop the algorithm if this is true.
4. Find the new estimate of the root
xU f xL   xL f xU 
xm 
f xL   f xU 
Find the absolute relative approximate error as
xmnew  xmold
a  new
 100 7

xm
 where
new
x m = estimated root from present iteration
old
x m = estimated root from previous iteration
3
5. say s  10  0.001. If a s , then go to step 3,
else stop the algorithm.
Notes: The False-Position and Bisection algorithms ar
quite similar. The only difference is the formula used t
calculate the new estimate of the rootxm ,shown in 8steps
#2 and 4!
Example 1
The floating ball has a specific gravity of 0.6 and has a
radius of 5.5cm.
You are asked to find the depth to which the ball is
submerged when floating in water.
The equation that gives the depth x to which the ball is
submerged under water is given by
4
x  0.165x  3.993 10  0
3 2

Use the false-position method of finding roots of

equations to find the depth x to which the ball is
submerged under water. Conduct three iterations to
estimate the root of the above equation. Find the
absolute relative approximate error at the end of each
9
iteration, and the number of significant digits at least
correct at the converged iteration.
 Solution
From the physics of the problem
0  x  2R
0  x  2(0.055)
0  x  0.11

Figure 2 :
Floating ball x
problem water
10
 Let us assume
xL  0, xU  0.11

f xL   f 0  0  0.1650  3.993  10 4  3.993  10 4

3 2

     3
 2
f xU  f 0.11  0.11  0.165 0.11  3.993  10 4  2.662  10 4

Hence,

  
f xL  f xU   f 0 f 0.11  3.993  104  2.662  104 11 0
 Iteration 1
xU f x L   x L f  xU 
xm 
f x L   f xU 



0.11 3.993 10 4  0   2.662 10 4 

3.993 10 4   2.662 10 4 
 0.0660

f xm   f 0.0660  0.0660  0.1650.0660  3.993 104
3 2

5
 3.1944 10
f xL  f xm   f 0 f 0.0660     0 12

xL  0, xU  0.0660
 Iteration 2
xU f x L   x L f xU 
xm 
f x L   f xU 



0.0660  3.993 10 4  0   3.1944 10 5 

3.993 10 4   3.1944 10 5 
 0.0611

f xm   f 0.0611  0.0611  0.1650.0611  3.993 104
3 2

 1.1320 105
f xL  f xm   f 0 f 0.0611      0 13

Hence, xL  0.0611, xU  0.0660

 0.0611  0.0660
a   100  8%
0.0611
Iteration 3
xU f x L   x L f xU 
xm 
f x L   f xU 



0.0660 1.132 10 5  0.0611  3.1944 10 5 
 
1.132 10 5   3.1944 10 5
 0.0624 14
 f xm   1.1313  107

f xL  f xm   f 0.0611 f 0.0624     0

Hence,
xL  0.0611, xU  0.0624

0.0624  0.0611
a  100  2.05%
0.0624
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Table 1: Root of f x   x 3  0.165x 2  3.993  104  0
for False-Position Method.

Iteration xL xU xm a % f  xm 
1 0.0000 0.1100 0.0660 N/A -3.1944x10-5

2 0.0000 0.0660 0.0611 8.00 1.1320x10-5

3 0.0611 0.0660 0.0624 2.05 -1.1313x10-7

4 0.0611 0.0624 0.0632377619 0.02 -3.3471x10-10

16
 a  0.5 10 2m
2 m
0.02  0.5 10
2 m
0.04  10
log( 0.04)  2  m
m  2  log( 0.04)
m  2  (1.3979)
m  3.3979
So, m  3
The number of significant digits at least correct in the
estimated root of 0.062377619 at the end of 4th iteration
17

is 3.