Tan, Emil Angelo O.

Barcelona, John Rey

Tortugo, Jonathan
Olayvar, Clark

SECANT METHOD

Problems
1. Find the value of x if x3 = 20 using secant method for three iterations, where xo = 4 and
x1 = 5.5?
2. You are working for DOWN THE TOILET COMPANY that makes floats (Figure 2)
for ABC commodes. The floating ball has a specific gravity of 0.6 and a radius of 5.5
cm. 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:
x 3 0.165 x 2 3.993 10 4 0
Use the secant 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 and the number of significant
digits at least correct at the end of each iteration.

Solution:
f x x 3 0.165x 2 3.993 10 4
Let us assume the initial guesses of the root of f x 0 as x1 0.02 and x0 0.05 .

Iteration 1
The estimate of the root is
f x0 x0 x1
x1 x0
f x0 f x1

x0
x 3
0 0.165x02 3.993 10 4 x0 x1
x3
0.165x 3.993 10
2 4
x 3
1 0.165x21 3.993 10 4
0.05 0.05 0.02
0 0

0.1650.05 3.993 10 4
3 2
0.05
0.05 3

0.1650.05 3.993 10 4 0.023 0.1650.02 3.993 10 4
2 2

0.06461

The absolute relative approximate error a at the end of Iteration 1 is

x1 x0
a 100
x1
0.06461 0.05
100
0.06461
22.62%
The number of significant digits at least correct is 0, as you need an absolute relative
approximate error of 5% or less for one significant digit to be correct in your result.

Iteration 2
f x1 x1 x0
x2 x1
f x1 f x0

x1
x3
1 0.165x12 3.993 10 4 x1 x0
x 3
1
0.165x12 3.993 10 4 x03 0.165x02 3.993 10 4
 0.06461
0.06461 0.1650.06461
3 2

3.993 10 4 0.06461 0.05
0.06461 0.1650.06461
3 2

3.993 10 4 0.053 0.1650.05 3.993 10 4
2

0.06241
The absolute relative approximate error a at the end of Iteration 2 is
x2 x1
a 100
x2
0.06241 0.06461
100
0.06241
3.525%
The number of significant digits at least correct is 1, as you need an absolute relative
approximate error of 5% or less.

Iteration 3
f x2 x2 x1
x3 x2
f x2 f x1

x2
x 3
2
0.165x22 3.993 10 4 x2 x1
x 3
0.165x 3.993 10
2 4
x
3
0.165x12 3.993 10 4
0.06241 0.1650.06241
2 2 1

3.993 10 4 0.06241 0.06461

3 2
0.06241
0.06241 0.1650.06241
3 2

3.993 10 4 0.064613 0.1650.06461 3.993 10 4
2

0.06238
The absolute relative approximate error a at the end of Iteration 3 is
x3 x2
a 100
x3
0.06238 0.06241
100
0.06238
0.0595%