J. Math. and Math. Sci., Vol.

23, 2008, 41-48

AN EFFECTIVE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODIFIED REGULA FALSI

METHOD FOR FINDING A REAL ROOT OF AN EQUATION OF A
SINGLE VARIABLE

M SHARIF UDDIN , F. AHMED, TAPAN K. DEBNATH , M NAZRUL ISLAM, AND

AMINUR R. KHAN
Department of Mathematics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342.

Abstract

A modification of the Regula falsi method for finding a real root of an equation of the form
f ( x ) = 0 was done [1]. Sometimes this modified regula falsi method takes more than the
reasonable number of iterations required in solving a problem. For faster convergence and
reasonable number of iterations an improvement of the modified method along with an efficient
algorithm is described herein. Finally, a comparative study of the earlier modified method and our
improved one is presented showing that the required number of iterations in our case is less than that
of iterations in the earlier modified method.

1. Introduction:

Earlier modified method generates the approximations in the same manner as the
Regula Falsi method does. For a given function f (x ) which is continuous on [a,b],
such that f (a ) f (b) 0 , there exists a real root of f ( x ) = 0 in the interval [a,b] .
Since f (a ) and f (b ) are of opposite signs, the straight line joining the points
(a , f (a )) and (b, f (b)) cuts the x-axis at the point (x1 ,0) , say. The equation of this
line is given by
y − f (a )
x−a= (b − a ) ,
f (b ) − f (a )
on the x-axis y = 0 , so it becomes

0 − f (a )
x1 − a = (b − a ) .
f (b) − f (a )
42 M Sharif Uddin et al.

Therefore, the first approximation of the desired root is given by

a f (b ) − bf (a )
x1 = .
f (b ) − f (a )
According to Regula Falsi method, the second and higher approximations of the
desired root are as follows:
a f (b ) − bf (a )
xk +1 = , k = 1, 2, 3, 4, ........
f (b ) − f (a )

where each iteration set ends with either a = xk if f (b) f (x1 ) 0 ,

or b = x k if f (a ) f (b) 0 .

But sometimes this method seems take more than the reasonable number of
iterations in solving a problem. Considering this problem an efficient
improvement of the method is developed. In section 2 the improved method is
described. An efficient algorithm and illustration with numerical example has
been presented in section 3. Section 4 presents a conclusion.

2. Presented Method
For a given function f (x ) , which is continuous on [a, b], such that
f (a ) f (b) 0 , there exists a real root c in the interval [a, b]. Now the straight
line joining the points (a , f (a )) and (b, f (b )) cuts the x-axis at the point (c1 ,0) .
So the first approximation of the desired root is
f (b )(b − a ) a f (b ) − b f (a )
c1 = b − = .
f (b ) − f (a ) f (b ) − f (a )

Next to decide which straight line is used to compute the approximation c2 , we

check f (b) f (c ) .Two cases arise:
An Effective Improvement of the Modified Regula Falsi 43

Case 1: If the value of f (b) f (c ) is positive then we set

b = c1 (according to fig. 2.1)

Case 2: If the value of f (b) f (c ) is negative then we set

a = c1 (according to fig. 2.2)

( )
Again for each case we check f (ck ) f ck +1 for k= 0,1,2,... ... where c0 = a .

If this value is positive then for case 1, we set

f (a ) = f (a ) / 2 (shown in fig. 2.1) and for

case 2, we set f (b) = f (b) / 2 (shown in fig. 2.2).

f(a)

f(a)/2

C3 C2 C1 b

a
y=f(x)

Fig. 2.1: Improved modified method for case 1

44 M Sharif Uddin et al.

f(b)

f(b)/2

f(b)/4
a c1 c2

c3 b

y=f(x)
f(a)

Fig. 2.2: Improved modified method for case 2

Therefore, the root of the equation f (x ) = 0 can be found by iterative process using
the following formula:

a f (b) − bf (a )
ck +1 = for k = 0,1,2,... ... ...
f (b) − f (a )

where each iteration setting ends with initial guess c0 = a and

either b = ck +1 if f (b ) f (c k +1 )  0

and f (a ) = f (a ) / 2 if f (ck ) f (ck +1 )  0

or, a = ck +1 if f (a ) f (ck +1 )  0

and f (b) = f (b) / 2 if f (ck ) f (ck +1 )  0

An Effective Improvement of the Modified Regula Falsi 45

The iterative process continues until the absolute difference between two
successive values of c k is less than a desired value (app. zero).

3. Algorithm and Experimental Results:

To find a real root of the equation f (x ) = 0 which lie in the interval [a,b], the
following algorithm and a computer program have been developed using
MATLAB 7.0 for the simulation results:

Step 1: Define flag1 10 -3

Step 2: Define flag2 10 -3
Step 3: Define max 200
Step 4: INPUT a, b
Step 5: fa = f (a ) , fb = f (b)
Step 6: k = 1 to max
Step 7: Initialize c0 = a

fb (b − a )
Step 8: ck +1 = b −
fb − fa
( )
Step 9: fck +1 = f ck +1

Step 10: If b − a  flag1 and fck +1  flag2

then go to Step 12
Else if fck +1 == 0 , break;

Else if fa  fck +1  0

b = c k +1 ;

fb = fck +1 ;

if fck  fck +1  0

fa = f (a ) / 2 ;
46 M Sharif Uddin et al.

end
Else
a = ck +1 ;

fa = fck +1 ;

if fck  fck +1  0

fb = f (b) / 2
end
end
Step 11: Go to Step 6
Step 12: Output
Print ‘The computed root of f (x ) = 0 is’ c
Print ‘Number of iteration’ k
Print ‘The value of the function f (c ) is’ fc

Example:

The following table shows the solutions of the equation f (x )  2 x 3 − 4 x 2 + 3 = 0 in

the interval [-1, 0] using the said modified Regula Falsi method method:

Iteration
a b f (a ) f (b ) ck f (ck )
No. k
3 -1 -0.6842 -1.5 0.4868 -0.7616 -0.2035
4 -0.7616 -0.6842 -0.2035 0.4868 -0.7388 0.0104
5 -0.7616 -0.7388 -0.2.35 0.0104 -0.7399 -0.00007
6 -0.7399 -0.7388 -0.00007 0.0104 -0.7399

Table 1: Solution of f (x ) = 2 x 3 − 4 x 2 + 3 = 0 using presented method

An Effective Improvement of the Modified Regula Falsi 47

The following figure shows the graphical shape of the function f (x ) considering
values from table 1:

Fig 3.1: Graphical shape of f (x)

The following table shows a comparison among the Regula Falsi Method, the earlier
modified method and the presented method using different types of equations.

Table 2: Comparative study of the methods

48 M Sharif Uddin et al.

4. Conclusion:
In this paper, an effective improvement of the modified Regula Falsi method is
introduced. This improvement is presented theoretically and an algorithm is also
given. A comparative study is carried out here on fourteen different types of
problems and it is found that the number of iterations needed for our method is
always less than that of the earlier methods. Thus we can conclude that our method
is faster, simpler and therefore enriches the present literature.

References
1. F Ahmed, M A Hoque and M S Uddin(2002), “ A modification of the Regula Falsi
Method for finding a real root of an equation of a single variable”, J. Math. & Math., vol-
17, page-43-53.

2. M. Sc. Thesis 2005 ‘A modification and comparative study of the Regula Falsi Method’.

3. Samuel D. Coute & Carl De Boor, Elementary Numerical Analysis (3rd ed.) ,1981.

4. V. Rajaraman, Computer Oriented Numerical method (3rd ed ) ,1999.

5. S. Balachandra Rao & C.K. Shanthe, Numerical Methods with program in BASIC
FORTRAN and Pascal, 1992.

6. E. Balagurusamy, Numerical methods , 1999.