Bisection and

Fixed-Point Method
Maria Priscillya Pasaribu
4103312018
Bilingual Mathematics Education
 Bisection Method
Bisection method is one of the closed methods
(bracketing method) to determine the root of a
nonlinear equation f(x) = 0, with the following main
principles:
​ confine one or more
•Using two initial values to
roots of non-linear equations.
•Root value is estimated by the midpoint between
two existing initial values
Bisection Method
Figure 1 At least one root exists between the two
points if the function is real, continuous, and
changes sign
If , then there may be more than one root
between and
Algorithm for The Bisection Method
 Step 1
Choose x and xu as two guesses for the root such that
f(x) f(xu) < 0, or in other words, f(x) changes sign
between x and xu. This was demonstrated in Figure 1.
f(x)

x
x
xu

Figure 1
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 Step 2
Estimate the root, xm of the equation f (x) = 0 as the mid
point between x and xu as
f(x)

x + xu
xm =
2
x xm
x
xu

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.
f ( xl ) f ( xm ) > 0
b) If , then the root lies between x m and xu;
then x = xm; xu = xu.
f ( xl ) f ( xm ) = 0
c) If ; then the root is x m. Stop the algorithm
if this is true.
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 Step 4

Find the new estimate of the root

x + xu
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
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. 13
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 Example 1

Find the root of X3 – 9X2 + 18X – 6 = 0 has

a unique root in [2, 2.5] with accuracy 10 -3.
Graph
 Step 1: Assume that x = 2 and x = 2,5 as
 u
two guesses for the root such that f(x) f(xu) < 0,
or in other words, f(x) changes sign between x
and xu from the equation X3 – 9X2 + 18X – 6 = 0
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4: Iteration 1
Cont.
 Root of f(x)=0 as function of number of
iterations for bisection method
Iteration xl xu xm f(xl) f(xm) Error (xu- xm)

0 2 2,5 2,25 2 0,328 0,25

1 2,25 2,5 2,375 0,328 -2,86 0,125
2 2,25 2,375 2,3125 0,328 -0,137451
0,0625
3 2,25 2,3125 2,28125 0,328 0,09744 0,03125
4 2,28125 2,3125 2,296875 0,09744 -0,019489 0,015625
5 2,28125 2,296875 2,2890625 0,09744 0,039107
0,0078125
6 2,2890625 2,296875 2,29296875 0,039107 0,00984
0,00390625
7 2,29296875 2,296875 2,29492188 0,00984 -0,004816
0,00195312
8 2,29296875 2,29492188 2,29394532 0,00984 0,00251476
0,000977
9 2,29394532 2,29492188 2,2944336 0,00251476 -0,0011502
0,000488
The iteration is stopped because the
error is approximate to 10-3.
So, the estimated root is 2,294436.