TOPIC 1

ROOTS OF
EQUATIONS

1
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~ Problems are concerned
with the value of variable or
a parameter that satisfies a
single nonlinear equation.

~ Valuable in engineering
design contexts where it is
often impossible to
explicitly solve design
equations for
parameters
2

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 Learning Outcomes
• Students should be able to:

i) Identify types of equations & various

numerical methods to find the roots of
equations (CO1-PO2)
ii) Apply the methods and solve
engineering and mathematical problems,
apply stopping criterion to terminate
iterations (CO1-PO2, CO2-PO5, CO2-PO4)
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 Roots of Equations
Part 2
(Chapters 5 & 6)

•Why?
b  b 2 4ac
ax 2 bx c 0 x
2a

•But
ax5 bx4 cx 3 dx2 ex f 0 x ?
sin x x 0 x ?

Chapter 5 4
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 Nonlinear Equation
Solvers

Bracketing Graphical Open Methods

Bisection Newton Raphson

False Position
(Regula-Falsi) Secant

All Iterative
5
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Figure PT2.1

Chapter 5 6
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 Bracketing Methods
(Or, two point methods for finding roots)

• Two initial guesses for the

root are required. These
guesses must “bracket” or
be on either side of the root.

== > Fig. 5.1

• If one root of a real and

continuous function, f(x)=0,
is bounded by values x=xl, x
=xu then
f(xl) . f(xu) <0.
(The function changes sign on opposite
sides of the root)
Chapter 5 7
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Figure 5.2 Figure 5.3
Chapter 5 8
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Figure 5.4a Figure 5.4b

Figure 5.4c 9
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 The Bisection Method
For the arbitrary equation of one variable, f(x)=0
1. Choose guesses ; lower xl and upper xu such
that they bound the root of interest by checking
f(xl).f(xu) <0.

2. Estimate the root by evaluating xr = (xl+xu)/2,

then find: f(xr).
3. Find the pair
• If [f(xl). f(xr)]<0, root lies in the lower interval, then
xu= xr, and go to step 2.
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• If [f(xl). f[(xr]>0, root lies
in the upper interval, then TERMINATION
xl = xr, go to step 2. CRITERIA

• If [f(xl). f(xr)]=0, then root

is xr and terminate.
xrnew xrold
a new
100%
x r
4. Compare s with a or t or
xrtrue xapprox
100%
5. If a< s, stop. Otherwise t
x true
r
repeat the process.

Chapter 5 11
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Figure 5.6

Chapter 5 12
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 Evaluation of Method
Pros Cons
• Easy • Slow
• Always find root • Know a and b that
• Number of iterations bound root
required to attain an • Multiple roots
absolute error can be • No account is taken
computed a priori. of f(xl) and f(xu), if f(xl)
is closer to zero, it is
likely that root is
closer to xl .

Chapter 5 13
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 How Many Iterations will It Take?

• Length of the first Interval Lo=b-a

• After 1 iteration L1=Lo/2
• After 2 iterations L2=Lo/4

• After k iterations Lk=Lo/2k

Lk
a 100% a s
x
Chapter 5 14
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• If the absolute magnitude of the error is
xs 4
10
100%
and Lo=2, how many iterations will you
have to do to get the required accuracy in
the solution?
4 2
10 2k 2 104 k 14.3 15
2k

Chapter 5 15
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 The False-Position Method
(Regula-Falsi)
If a real root is bounded
by xl and xu of f(x)=0,
approximate the
solution by doing
linear interpolation
between the points
[xl, f(xl)] and [xu, f(xu)]
to find the xr value
such that l(xr)=0, l(x)
is the linear
approximation of f(x).

== > Fig. 5.12

Chapter 5 16
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 Procedure
1. Find a pair of values of x: xl and xu such that
fl=f(xl) <0 and fu=f(xu) >0.
2. Estimate the value of the root from the following
formula (Refer to Box 5.1)

f ( xu ) ( xl xu )
xr xu
f ( xl ) f ( xu )
and evaluate f(xr).

Chapter 5 17
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3. Use the new point to replace one of the
original points, keeping the two points on
opposite sides of the x axis.
(Similar as in Bi-section method)

• If [f(xl). f(xr)] < 0, root lies in the lower sub-

interval, then set new xu = xr, go to step 2.
• If [f (xl). f (xr)] > 0, root lies in the upper sub-
interval, then set new xl = xr, go to step 2.
• If [f(xl). f (xr)] = 0, then root is xr and
terminate.
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4. See if the new xl and xu are close enough for
convergence to be declared. If they are not,
go back to step 2.

• Why this method?

– Faster
– Always converges for a single root.

Chapter 5 19
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 Problem 5.1
Determine the real roots of f(x) = -0.6x^2 + 2.4 x + 5.5

a) Using Graphical Plot

x f(x)
0 5.5000
f(x)
10.0000
1 7.3000
2 7.9000 0.0000
3 7.3000 0 2 4 6 8 10
-10.0000 f(x)
4 5.5000
5 2.5000 -20.0000

6 -1.7000 -30.0000
7 -7.1000
8 -13.7000
9 -21.5000 The root is between 5.0 and 6.0
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b) Using Quadratic Equation
2
2 b  b 4ac
ax bx c 0 x
2a

x = (-2.4 + SQRT (2.4^2 -( 4*(-0.6)*5.5))) / (2*-0.6)

x= -1.63 This is not shown in the graph, unless the scale starts at < 0)
and x = 5.63

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c) Using Bisection Method
Using 3 iterations of the bisection method to detemine the highest root.
Employ initial guesses of xl = 5 and xu = 10,

Compute estimated error ea and the true error et after each iteration.

Solution :
xl = 5 xu = 10
xr = (xl+xu)/2,
f(x) = -0.6x2 + 2.4 x + 5.5
1st iteration
xr = (5 + 10) / 2 = 7.5

Check:
f(xl) = -0.6*(5^2) + (2.4*5) + 5.5 = 2.50
f(xr) = -0.6*(7.5^2) + (2.4*7.5) + 5.5 = -10.25
f(xl) *f(xr) = -25.63( < 0)

Therefore : xu = xr (in the next iteration) 22

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 xrnew xrold
a new
100%
x r

a = 100% at first iteration

xrtrue xapprox 5.63 7.5
t true
100% 100% 33.2 %
x r
5.63

t is
obtain from Quadratic equation
(or from actual maths. procedure)
2nd Iteration
Xl = 5, Xu = Xr = 7.5

Xr = (5 + 7.5)/2 = 6.25
f(5) = 2.5, f(6.25) = -2.9375 Repeat the process
f(xl) * f(xr) < 0
Therefore, Xu’ = Xr = 6.25
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 6.25 7.5 5.63 6.25
a 100% 20.0 % t 100% 11.01%
6.25 5.63

3rd Iteration:
New Xl = 5.0, Xu = 6.25
:
Repeat the process
:
Iteration
No. Xl Xu Xr f(xl) f(xr) (fxl).f(xr) CHECK Ea (%) Et (%)
TABULATION
1 5 10 7.5000 2.5000 -10.2500 -25.6250 Xu = Xr 33.21
2 5.000 7.5000 6.2500 2.5000 -2.9375 -7.3438 Xu = Xr 20.00 11.01
3 5.000 6.2500 5.6250 2.5000 0.0156 0.0391 Xl = Xr 11.11 0.09
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 Exercises

• Do Problems 5.2, 5.7, 5.11, 5.20,

5.22 (Text book, 6th Edition)

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