Linear Interpolation Method

Convergence Criteria:
1. Need two initial values, [a, b] which
satisfy Intermediate Value Theorem
f (a) f (b)  0 .

Formula:
2. Iterate using
Iteration Calculator
Formula Formula
ai f (bi )  bi f (ai )
ci 
f (bi )  f (ai ) , ( AD  BC )  ( D  C )
i  0,1, 2, ...

f ( xi ) f (X )

3. Position of A and B in order to

calculate c 0 .
i ai ci bi f (ai ) f (ci ) f (bi )

0 A B C D
 4. Position of A and B in order to
calculate c1 .
i ai ci bi f (ai ) f (ci ) f (bi )

0
1 A B

5. Repeat the same pattern for position of A

and B in order to calculate ci .

Iteration:
6. If f (ai ) f (ci )  0 then {root is in [ai , ci ] }
ai 1  ai {next a  previous a }
bi 1  ci {next b  previous c }

7. Else f (ai ) f (ci )  0 then {root is in [ci , bi ] }

ai 1  ci {next a  previous c }
bi 1  bi {next b  previous b }
Stopping Criteria:
8. Repeat the process until f (ci )  0 or
| f (ci ) |  or | bi  ai |  .

Note:
If the stopping criteria is not specified in a
particular problem, then from those three
criteria, we will employ the one whenever
comes first.

Example
Find the root of x  ln x  0 by using bisection
method. Iterate until | f (ci ) |   0.005 over the
interval [0.2, 1] . All numerical computational
must be carried out to 3 decimal places.
Solution:
(a) f ( x)  x  ln x
= X  ln X (Calculator formula)
=
 [a, b]  [0.2, 1]
a f (b )  bi f (ai )
ci  i i i  0, 1, 2, ... (Iteration Formula)
f (bi )  f (ai ) ,
= ( AD  BC )  ( D  C) (Calculator Formula)
=

i ai ci bi f (ai ) f (ci ) f (bi )

0 0.2 0.668 1  1.409 0.265 1.000

1 0.2 0.594 0.668  1.409 0.073 0.265
2 0.2 0.575 0.594  1.409 0.022 0.073
3 0.2 0.569 0.575  1.409 0.005 0.022
4 0.2 0.568 0.569  1.409 0.002 0.005

Since f (c4 )  0.002    0.005 , so the root of x  ln x  0

is  c4  0.568 .