GROUP 9 – MACHINE PROBLEM 3 – BISECTION METHOD

BISECTION METHOD
DEFINITION - Bisection method is the simplest among all the numerical schemes to solve the
transcendental equations.  The bisection method in mathematics is a root-finding method that
repeatedly bisects an interval and then selects a sub-interval in which a root must lie for further
processing. It is a very simple and robust method, but it is also relatively slow. Because of this, it
is often used to obtain a rough approximation to a solution which is then used as a starting point
for more rapidly converging methods.

Consider a transcendental equation f (x) = 0, which has a zero in the interval [a,b] and f (a) * f
(b) < 0. Bisection scheme computes the zero, say c, by repeatedly halving the interval [a,b]. That
is, starting with 

( a+b)
c=
2

the interval [a,b] is replaced either with [c,b] or with [a,c] depending on the sign of f (a) * f (c) .
This process is continued until the zero is obtained. Since the zero is obtained numerically the
value of c may not exactly match with all the decimal places of the analytical solution of f (x) = 0
in the interval [a,b].

ADVANTAGES

1. Bisection method is always convergent. Since the method brackets the root, it is
guaranteed to converge.
2. The function is evaluated per iteration.
3. As iterations are conducted, the interval gets halved, so one can guarantee the error in the
solution of the equation.

DISADVANTAGES

1. Although it is guaranteed to converge, the function takes time. Hence it has a slow pace
of converging.
2. Unable to give or detect multiple roots.
EXAMPLES

x 1
1. Consider finding the root of f (x)=e (3.2sin ( x )− cos ( x ) ) on the interval [3,4], with and
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tolerance in function error of 0.001

i a f (a) b f (b) c f (c )
0 3 0.047127 4 -0.038372 3.5 0.5
1 3 0.047127 3.5 -0.019757 3.25 0.25
2 3.25 0.0058479 3.5 -0.019757 3.375 0.125
3 3.25 0.0058479 3.375 -0.008680 3.3125 0.0625
4 3.25 0.0058479 3.3125 -0.001877 3.2812 0.0313
5 3.2812 0.0018739 3.3125 -0.001877 3.2968 0.0156
6 3.2812 0.0018739 3.2968 -0.000025 3.289 0.0078
7 3.289 0.00091736 3.2968 -0.000025 3.2929 0.0039
8 3.2929 0.00044352 3.2968 -0.000025 3.2948 0.002
9 3.2948 0.00021466 3.2968 -0.000025 3.2958 0.001
10 3.2958 0.00009407 3.2968 -0.000025 3.2962 0.0005
7

Thus, after the 11th iteration, we note that the final interval, [3.2958, 3.2968] has a width less
than 0.001 and |f(3.2968)| < 0.001 and therefore we chose b = 3.2968 to be our approximation of
the root.

1
2. Find the root of f ( x )=x−sin ( x ) −
2

The graph of this equation is given in the figure:

Let a=1 and b=2

1
So one of the roots for the equation x−sin ( x )− =0 is 1.497.
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