Solving nonlinear equations
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1 Bisection Method
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Basis of Bisection Method
IV Theorem : An equation f(x)=0, where f(x) is a real continuous function,
has at least one root between xl and xu if f(xl) f(xu) < 0.
f(x)
Figure 1 At least one root exists between the two points if the
function is real, continuous, and changes sign.
x!
x
xu
f(x)
Figure 2 If function does not change sign between two points, roots of
the equation may still exist between the two points.
x! x
xu
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f(x)
f(x)
x! xu
x x
x! xu
Figure 3 If the function f(x) does not change sign between two points, there may not be any roots for the equation
f(x)=0 between the two points.
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f(x)
xu x
x!
Figure 4 If the function f (x ) changes sign between two points, more than one
root for the equation f (x ) = 0 may exist between the two points.
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Algorithm for Bisection Method
Step 1 Choose x and x as two guesses for the root such that f(x ) f(x )
u u
< 0, or in other words, f(x) changes sign between x and xu. This
was demonstrated in Figure 1.
Step 2 Estimate the root, xm of the equation f (x) = 0 as the mid point
between x and xu as x !+ x u
xm =
2
f(x) f(x)
x! x! xm
x x
xu xu
Figure 1 Figure 5 Estimate of xm
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Step 3
Now check the following
a) If f (xl )f (xm )< 0 , then the root lies between x and xm; then x =
x ; xu = xm.
b) If f (xl )f (xm ) > 0 , then the root lies between xm and xu; then x = xm;
xu = xu.
c) If f (xl )f (xm ) = 0
, then the root is xm. Stop the algorithm if this is true.
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Step 4
x !+ x u
Find the new estimate of the root xm =
2
Find the absolute relative approximate error
x new − x old
m
∈a = m
new
×100
x m
where xmold = previous estimate of root and
xmnew = current estimate of root
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Step 5
Compare the absolute relative approximate error ∈a with the pre-specified
error tolerance ∈s .
Go to Step 2 using new
Yes upper and lower
Is ∈a >∈s ? guesses.
No Stop the algorithm
Note one should also check whether the number of iterations is more than the
maximum number of iterations allowed. If so, one needs to terminate the
algorithm and notify the user about it.
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Example 1
You are working for ‘DOWN THE TOILET COMPANY’ that
makes floats for ABC commodes. The floating ball has a
specific gravity of 0.6 and has a radius of 5.5 cm. You
are asked to find the depth to which the ball is
submerged when floating in water.
Figure 6 Diagram of the floating ball
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The equation that gives the depth x to which the ball is submerged
under water is given by
x 3 − 0.165 x 2 + 3.993 ×10 −4 = 0
a) Use the bisection 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.
b) Find the absolute relative approximate error at the end of each
iteration, and the number of significant digits at least correct at the
end of each iteration.
From the physics of the problem, the ball would be
submerged between x = 0 and x = 2R, where R = radius of
the ball, that is 0 ≤ x ≤ 2 R
0 ≤ x ≤ 2(0.055)
0 ≤ x ≤ 0.11
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Solution
To aid in the understanding of how this method works to find the root of an
equation, the graph of f(x) is
3 2 -4
Figure 7 Graph of the function f (x ) = x − 0.165 x + 3.993 × 10
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Let us assume x!= 0.00
xu = 0.11
Check if the function changes sign between x and xu .
3 2
f (xl ) = f (0 ) = (0 ) − 0.165(0 ) + 3.993 ×10 −4 = 3.993 ×10 −4
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 < 0
So there is at least on root between x and xu, that is between 0 and 0.11
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Figure 8 Graph demonstrating sign change between initial limits
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Iteration 1 The estimate of the root is
x!+ xu 0 + 0.11
xm = = = 0.055
2 2
3 2
f (xm ) = f (0.055) = (0.055) − 0.165(0.055) + 3.993 ×10 −4 = 6.655 ×10 −5
( )(
f (xl )f (xm ) = f (0 )f (0.055) = 3.993 ×10 − 4 6.655 ×10 −5 > 0 )
Hence the root is bracketed between xm and xu, that is, between 0.055 and 0.11.
So, the lower and upper limits of the new bracket are
xl = 0.055, xu = 0.11
At this point, the absolute relative approximate error ∈a cannot be calculated as
we do not have a previous approximation.
Figure 9 Estimate of the root for Iteration 1
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Iteration 2 The estimate of the root is
x!+ xu 0.055 + 0.11
xm = = = 0.0825
2 2
3 2
f (xm ) = f (0.0825) = (0.0825) − 0.165(0.0825) + 3.993 × 10 −4 = −1.622 × 10 −4
f (xl ) f (xm ) = f (0.055) f (0.0825) = (− 1.622 × 10 −4 )(6.655 × 10 −5 )< 0
Hence the root is bracketed between x and xm, that is, between 0.055 and
0.0825. So, the lower and upper limits of the new bracket are
xl = 0.055, xu = 0.0825
Figure 10 Estimate of the root for Iteration 2
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The absolute relative approximate error ∈a at the end of Iteration 2 is
xmnew − xmold
∈a = new
×100
xm
0.0825 − 0.055
= ×100
0.0825
= 33.333%
None of the significant digits are at least correct in the estimate root of xm =
0.0825 because the absolute relative approximate error is greater than 5%.
Iteration 3 The estimate of the root is
x!+ xu 0.055 + 0.0825
xm = = = 0.06875
2 2
3 2
f (xm ) = f (0.06875) = (0.06875) − 0.165(0.06875) + 3.993 ×10 −4 = −5.563 ×10 −5
( )( )
f (xl )f (xm ) = f (0.055)f (0.06875) = 6.655 ×10 −5 − 5.563 ×10 −5 < 0
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Hence the root is bracketed between x and xm, that is, between 0.055 and
0.06875. So, the lower and upper limits of the new bracket are
xl = 0.055, xu = 0.06875
Figure 11 Estimate of the root for Iteration 3
The absolute relative approximate error ∈a at the end of Iteration 3 is
xmnew − xmold
∈a = ×100
xmnew
0.06875 − 0.0825
= ×100
0.06875
= 20%
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Still none of the significant digits are at least correct in the estimated root of the
equation as the absolute relative approximate error is greater than 5%.
Seven more iterations were conducted and these iterations are shown in Table 1.
Iteration x! xu xm ∈a % f(xm)
1 0.00000 0.11 0.055 ---------- 6.655×10−5
2 0.055 0.11 0.0825 33.33 −1.622×10−4
3 0.055 0.0825 0.06875 20.00 −5.563×10−5
4 0.055 0.06875 0.06188 11.11 4.484×10−6
5 0.06188 0.06875 0.06531 5.263 −2.593×10−5
6 0.06188 0.06531 0.06359 2.702 −1.0804×10−5
7 0.06188 0.06359 0.06273 1.370 −3.176×10−6
8 0.06188 0.06273 0.0623 0.6897 6.497×10−7
9 0.0623 0.06273 0.06252 0.3436 −1.265×10−6
10 0.0623 0.06252 0.06241 0.1721 −3.0768×10−7
Table 1 Root of f(x)=0 as function of number of iterations for bisection method.
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Hence the number of significant digits at least correct is given by the largest value or
m for which
∈a ≤ 0.5 ×10 2− m
0.1721 ≤ 0.5 ×10 2− m
0.3442 ≤ 10 2− m
log(0.3442 )≤ 2 − m
m ≤ 2 − log(0.3442 ) = 2.463
So m = 2
The number of significant digits at least correct in the estimated root of 0.06241
at the end of the 10th iteration is 2.
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Advantages
■ Always convergent
■ The root bracket gets halved with each iteration -
guaranteed.
Drawbacks
■ Slow convergence
■ If one of the initial guesses is close to the root,
the convergence is slower
■ …
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■ If a function f(x) is such that it just touches the x-axis
it will be unable to find the lower and upper guesses.
f(x)
f (x ) = x 2
■ Function changes sign but root does not exist
f(x)
1
f (x ) =
x
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