% LaTeX \documentclass[leqno]{article} \usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc} \usepackage{ucs} \usepackage{soul} \usepackage{url} \usepackage{braket} \usepackage{graphicx} \usepackage[intlimits]{amsmath} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{gellmu2} \usepackage[margin=100bp,nohead]{geometry} \setlength{\parskip}{1ex} \setlength{\parindent}{0em} \pagestyle{plain} \thispagestyle{empty} \title{Notes on Newton's Method} \date{Revised for the Web: July 27, 2004} \newlength{\centerskip} \setlength{\centerskip}{\topsep} \newcommand{\hsf}{\hspace*{\fill}} \newcommand{\tdbc}[1]{\hsf\textbf{#1}\hsf} \begin{document} \begin{center}\LARGE\bfseries{} Notes on Newton's Method \end{center} \begin{center}\large\bfseries{} Supplementary Material for Honors Calculus\\[0.25\baselineskip] Originally prepared in the Fall Semester 1995 \end{center} \begin{center} \large\bfseries{} Revised for the Web: July 27, 2004 \end{center} \medskip \par{\textbf{Proposition}: Let \(f\) be a function that is differentiable on an interval \(I\) and assume further: \begin{menulist} \item [{\label{KEY-1}(a)}] The derivative \(f^{\prime{}}\) is either positive throughout \(I\) or negative throughout \(I\)\@. \ \item [{\label{KEY-2}(b)}] The derivative \(f^{\prime{}}\) is either steadily increasing in \(I\) or steadily decreasing in \(I\)\@. \ \item [{\label{KEY-3}(c)}] There are points \(a, b\) in \(I\) for which \(f(a)\) and \(f(b)\) are both non-zero with opposite sign. \end{menulist} Then: \begin{enumerate} \item There is one and only one point \(z\) in \(I\) for which \(f(z) \, = \, 0\)\@. \ \item If \(x\) is on the \textbf{convex} side of the graph of \(f\) in \(I\)\@, then so is \(x^{\prime{}} \, = \, x - f(x)/f^{\prime{}}(x)\)\@, and \(x^{\prime{}}\) lies between \(x\) and \(z\)\@. \ \item Successive iterations of Newton's method beginning with a point \(x\) on the \textbf{convex} side of the graph of \(f\) in \(I\) will converge to \(z\)\@. \ \item \emph{Error control principle.} \ If \(c\) is any point in \(I\) on the \textbf{concave} side of the graph of \(f\) and \(x\) is on the \textbf{convex} side, then the distance between \(x\) and \(z\) is at most the absolute value of \(f(x)/f^{\prime{}}(c)\)\@. \ \end{enumerate} } \par{\textsl{Proof:} If \(f^{\prime{}}\) is positive in \(I\) one has \(f(x_{1}) < f(x_{2})\) whenever \(x_{1} < x_{2}\) in \(I\). If instead \(f^{\prime{}}\) is negative in \(I\), then one has \(f(x_{1}) > f(x_{2})\) for \(x_{1} < x_{2}\)\@. \ For this reason there is \emph{at most} one root \(z\) in \(I\) with \(f(z)\, = \,0\)\@. \ The \emph{Intermediate Value Theorem for Continuous Functions} guarantees that there is at least one root between \(a\) and \(b\)\@. \ } \par{We shall assume that \(f^{\prime{}}\) is positive and increasing. One may reduce each of the other three cases to this case by reflecting either in the horizontal axis or in the vertical line \(x\, = \,z\) or both. Under this assumption the convex side of the graph of \(f\) is the right side. Suppose that \(z < x\): then \(0\, = \,f(z) < f(x)\)\@. \ We apply the Mean Value Theorem to \(f\) on the interval \([z,x]\) to conclude that there is a number \(u\) with \(z < u < x\) for which \[ f(x) - f(z) \ = \ f^{\prime{}}(u)(x - z) \ \ \ . \] Since \(f(z)\, = \,0\) and \(f^{\prime{}}(u) > 0\)\@, one obtains \[ x - z \ = \ \frac{f(x)}{f^{\prime{}}(u)} \ \ \ . \] Since \(f^{\prime{}}\) is increasing, we find \(f^{\prime{}}(u) < f^{\prime{}}(x)\)\@, and, therefore, \(f(x)/f^{\prime{}}(x) < f(x)/f^{\prime{}}(u)\)\@. \ Consequently, \(z < x^{\prime{}} < x\)\@. \ } \par{In view of (2) one has \[ z < \ldots{} < x_{n} < \ldots{} < x_{2} < x_{1} \ \ \ . \] Letting \[ x_{*} \ = \ \mbox{inf}_{(n \geq{} 1)} \ \left\{x_{n}\right\} \ , \] one has \[ x_{*} \ = \ \lim _{n \rightarrow{} \infty{}} \ x_{n} \ , \] and, therefore, taking the limit as \,\(n \rightarrow{} \infty{}\)\, on both sides of the relation \[ x_{n+1} \ = \ x_{n} - \frac{f(x_{n})}{f^{\prime{}}(x_{n})} \ , \] one finds that \(f(x_{*}) \, = \, 0\)\@. \ Since by (1) there is only one root of \(f\) in \(I\), it follows that \(x_{*} \, = \, z\)\@. \ } \par{In the proof of (2) we saw that for \(x\) in \(I\) on the right side of \(z\) the distance from \(x\) to \(z\) is \(f(x)/f^{\prime{}}(u)\)\@, where \(z