NUMERICAL METHODS

NUMERICAL METHODS (IN ENGINEERING & APPLIED SCIENCES)

[1] ROOTS OF EQUATIONS [2] LINEAR & NON-LINEAR ALGEBRAIC EQUATIONS [3] OPTIMIZATION [4] CURVE FITTINGS [5] NUMERICAL DIFFERENTIATION & INTEGRATION

[6] ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (ODE)

[7] PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (PDE)

WHY NUMERICAL METHODS?

[1]

COMPLEXITIES & DIFFICULTIES IN ANALYTICAL SOLUTION (extremely powerful problem solving tools) MATHEMATICAL MODELLING (reinforcing tools to understand mathematics) SCIENTIFIC COMPUTATION (SIMULATIONS & VISUALIZATIONS) (efficient tool for learning to use computers)

[2]

[3]

ROOTS OF EQUATIONS
[1] BRACKETING METHODS Graphical Method (Manual or Computer Aided) Bisection Method Linear Interpolation

[2] OPEN METHODS Simple Fixed-Point Iteration The Newton-Raphson Method The Secant Method
[3] ROOTS OF POLYNOMIALS Mllers Method Bairstows Method

BISECTION METHOD

BISECTION METHOD (THEORY)

The function changes its sign at two opposite points around the root. If lower and upper limits of an interval are a and b respectively, then we can initially locate the root of the equation when f (a) . f (b) < 0

The existence of a root within this interval is proven by the INTERMEDIATE VALUE THEOREM in calculus.
The location of the root can be approximated by halving this interval; i.e. the approximate location of the root is given by

ab r 2

BISECTION METHOD (METHODOLOGY / ALGORITHM)

STEP 1 Choose lower limit, a and upper limit, b by guessing them for the root such that the function changes sign over the interval. This can be checked by ensuring that f (a) . f (b) < 0. STEP 2 An estimate of root is given by

ab r 2

BISECTION METHOD (METHODOLOGY / ALGORITHM)

STEP 3 (The Rule)
[1] If f (a) . f (r) < 0, then the root lies near to the lower subinterval. Therefore set r = b and return to step 2 for next iteration. Else if f (a) . f (r) > 0, then the root lies near to the upper subinterval. Therefore set r = a and return to step 2 for next iteration. Else if f (a) . f (r) = 0, then r is the root. Therefore computation terminates.

[2]

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EXAMPLE
Find the positive root correct to 5 decimal places for f (x) = x2 3 using Bisection Method by carrying out 10 iterations.

SOLUTION For a simple function given as this example, we may consider algebraic manipulation to calculate the root(s) of the equation. Alternatively, we may sketch the graph to locate the root(s) of the equation.

We know that if f (x) = x2 3 = 0, then (x 3) (x + 3) = 0.

Therefore, x = 3 = 1.7321.

Since we are required to find the root by applying the Bisection method, thus, we may choose the lower and upper limit as follows: a=1 b=3 f (a) = - 2 f (b) = 6

Therefore, f (a) . f (b) = - 12 < 0 satisfies the condition in step 1.

Continuing the steps 2 and 3 will results the following data table.

BISECTION METHOD (THE TABLE)

i 1 a b r f (a) f (b) f (r) f (a) . f (r)

2
3 4 5

6
7 8 9

10

i
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a
1.00000
1.00000 1.50000 1.50000 1.62500 1.68750 1.71875 1.71875 1.72656 1.73047

b
3.00000
2.00000 2.00000 1.75000 1.75000 1.75000 1.75000 1.73438 1.73438 1.73438

r
2.00000
1.50000 1.75000 1.62500 1.68750 1.71875 1.73438 1.72656 1.73047 1.73243

f (a)
-2.00000
-2.00000 -0.75000 -0.75000 -0.35938 -0.15234 -0.04590 -0.04590 -0.01899 -0.00547

f (b)
6.00000
1.00000 1.00000 -0.68250 0.06250 0.06250 0.06250 0.00807 0.00807 0.00807

f (r)
1.00000
-0.75000 0.06250 -0.35938 -0.15234 -0.04590 -0.00806 -0.01897 -0.00542 -0.00130

f (a) . f (r)
-2.00000 (-ve test)
1.50000 (+ve test) -0.04688 (-ve test) 0.26953 (+ve test) 0.05475 (+ve test) 0.00699 (+ve test) -0.00037 (-ve test) 0.00087 (+ve test) 0.00010 (+ve test) -0.00001 (almost zero!)