Self Study Assignment (29/10/2015) - Bracketing Method.

A. Example 1: Bisection Method.

Determine the root of
=
5 + 6 using the Bisection Method with initial values
xl = 2.5 and xu = 4. Iterate until the approximation error is less than 3%. Calculate the final
true error and the approximation error at each iteration.
Solution:
First Iteration:
1) Calculate xr using Bisection formula :
Hence,
=
2) Calculate

and

3) Determine if

Here,

:
=

2.5 + 4
= 3.25
2

2.5 = 2.5

< 0 or

+
2

4 = 4

5 2.5 + 6 = 0.25

5 4 + 6 = 0.3125
>0:

= 0.25 0.3125 which is less than zero, i.e.

<0

4) Therefore according to the Bisection Method rules,

If

< 0, then in the next iteration, x u = x r = 3.25 and x l stays, i.e. x l = 2.5
5) Calculate the approximation error:
=
For the first iteration,

!"# $

100%
!"# $

cannot be calculate because there is no

All the information above can be summarized in the following table:

i
1
2

xl
2.5
2.5

xu
4
3.25

xr
3.25

f(xl)
-0.25

f(xr)
0.3125

f(xl)f(xr)
<0

a
-

Second Iteration:
1) Calculate xr using Bisection formula. Hence,
2.5 + 3.25
=
= 2.875
2
2) Calculate

and

3) Determine if

Here,

:
=

2.875 = 2.875
< 0 or

2.5 = 0.25

5 2.875 + 6 = 0.1094
>0:

= 0.25 0.1094 which is more than zero, i.e.

>0

4) Therefore according to the Bisection Method rules,

> 0, then in the next iteration, x l = x r = 2.875 and x u stays, i.e. x u = 4
If
5) Calculate the approximation error:
!"# $

2.875 3.25
=
100% = *
* 100% = 13.04 %
2.875
All the information above can be summarized in the following table:
i
1
2

xl
2.5
2.5

xu
4
3.25

xr
3.25
2.875

f(xl)
-0.25
-0.25

f(xr)
0.3125
-0.1094

f(xl)f(xr)
<0
>0

a
13.04

B. Example 2: False Position Method

Determine the root of
=
5 + 6 using the False Position Method with initial
values xl = 2.5 and xu = 4. Iterate until the approximation error is less than 3%. Calculate the
final true error and the approximation error at each iteration.
Solution:
First Iteration:
1) Calculate

and

:
=

2.5 = 2.5
=

4 = 4

5 2.5 + 6 = 0.25
5 4 + 6 = 2

2) Calculate xr using False Position formula :

= +

Hence,
=4 2
3) Calculate

4) Determine if
Here,

2.5 4
= 2.6667
/0.250 2

2.6667 = 2.6667
< 0 or

5 2.6667 + 6 = 0.2222
>0:

= 0.25 0.2222 which is more than zero, i.e.

>0

5) Therefore according to the False Position Method rules,

If

> 0, then in the next iteration, x l = x r = 2.6667 and x u stays, i.e. x u = 4
6) Calculate the approximation error:
=
For the first iteration,

!"# $

100%

cannot be calculate because there is no

!"# $

All the information above can be summarized in the following table:

i
1
2

xl
2.5
2.6667

Second Iteration:
1) Calculate

xu
4
4

and
=

f(xl)
-0.25

f(xu)
2

:
2.6667 = 2.6667
=

4 = 4

xr
2.6667

f(xr)
-0.2222

f(xl)f(xr)
>0

a
-

5 2.6667 + 6 = 0.2222
5 4 + 6 = 2

2) Calculate xr using False Position formula :

2.6667 4
= 4 2
= 2.8000
/0.22220 2
3) Calculate

4) Determine if

Here,

2.8000 = 2.8000
< 0 or

5 2.8000 + 6 = 0.16

>0:

= 0.2222 0.16 which is more than zero, i.e.

>0

5) Therefore according to the False Position Method rules,

If

> 0, then in the next iteration, x l = x r = 2.8000 and x u stays, i.e. x u = 4
6) Calculate the approximation error:
!"# $

2.8000 2.6667
=
100% = *
* 100% = 4.76 %
2.8000
All the information above can be summarized in the following table:
i

xl

xu

f(xl)

f(xu)

xr

f(xr)

f(xl)f(xr)

1
2

2.5
2.6667

4
4

-0.25
-0.2222

2
2

2.6667
2.8000

-0.2222
-0.16

>0
>0

4.76%

Do the following in groups of 2 persons and submit 1 answer by 5 pm on

Monday 2/11/2015
TASK 1:
1. At the second iteration of Example 1 above (page 1 & 2), the approximation error is
13.04 % and is more than 3 %. Therefore, continue to solve the example by filling up the
table above to find the value of xr that will give an error of less than 3 %. Then calculate
the final true error.
Hint: You will need to do 5 iterations and you will have to calculate the true (analytical)
solution for the problem to calculate the true error.
2. Given the function
= 5 1 5 + 6 , find the value of x when
= 2 using the
Bisection Method with initial values xl = 0 and xu = 1. Iterate until the approximation
error is less than 10%.
Hint: You will need to substitute the function
into
= 2 and then rearrange to
make
=0.

TASK 2:
1. At the second iteration of Example 2 above (page 3 & 4), the approximation error is
4.76 % and is more than 3 %. Therefore, continue to solve the example by filling up the
table above to find the value of xr that will give and error of less than 3 %. Then
calculate the final true error.
2. Given the function
= 5 1 5 + 6 , find the value of x when
= 2 using the
False Position Method with initial values xl = 0 and xu = 1. Iterate until the
approximation error is less than 5%.

TASK 3:
1. Do question 2 from Tutorial 2: Bisection and False Position Method. You can download
the tutorial from this URL : http://metalab.uniten.edu.my/~anisa/coeb223.htm.