UECM1693/UECM2623/UCCM2623

Tutorial N2: Solution of Equations

1. The equation x = 0.5ex has exactly one root, say, r. Use the Intermediate Value Theorem
to show that r (0.3, 0.4). Then use the fixed-point method to find r to four decimal places.
Answer: 0.3517

2. Use the bisection method to approximate the real root of the equation x3 + 2x 6 = 0 that is
located in the interval [1, 2]. Your answer should be accurate to two decimal places.
Note 1 : An approximation is said to be accurate to k decimal places if the magnitude of the
error is less than 0.5 10k .
Note 2 : After n iterations of the bisection algorithm, with [a, b] as the initial interval, an
approximate root for the equation f (x) = 0 will have been computed with an error of at most

ba
, n 1.
2n
Answer: 1.4571

3. Apply three iterations of the false position method to approximate the root of the equation
cos(x) + 1 x = 0 that is located in the interval [1, 2].
Answer: 1.2834

4. The curve y = 2x3 + x2 x + 1 intersects the xaxis at exactly one point. Use the Newton-
Raphson method to find the x-coordinate of this point of intersection. Continue until two
successive approximations differ by less than 0.0001. Prepare all the computations in 5 decimal
places.
Answer: 1.23375

5. The velocity flow , v [m/s], of a liquid along a channel satisfies

v 3 6v 2 348v + 3112 = 0.

Given that there is a root of this equation between v = 10 and v = 11, find this root correct to
three decimal places using the Newton-Raphson method.
Answer: 10.196 m/s