Talya Timoçin

010200412

The Secant Method

The Secant Method, also known as 2-point method, is a root-finding procedure, used in
numerical analysis. It is a recursive method for finding the approximate root of a function f by
using a series of roots of secant lines.
The Secant Method has both advantages and disadvantages. Its advantages include:
 Converging quicker than a linear rate, making it more convergent than the bisection
method.
 Not needing the usage of the function’s derivative, which is not available in a number of
applications.
 Requiring only one function evaluation in every iteration.
Its disadvantages are:
 It may not converge.
 The computed iterates do not have guaranteed error bounds.
 Since convergence is not guaranteed, therefore there should be a limit on maximum
number of iterations while implementing this method on computer.
Consider the function f(x) with the following graph:

f( x 0 ¿

f( x 1 ¿

r is the desired root that lies near point  x 1 and x 0. The main idea of the Secant Method is to
approximate the curve with a straight line -which is assumed to be the secant line which connects
the two points ( x 0, f( x 0)) and ( x 1, f( x 1))- for x between the values of  x 0 and r. The secant line and
the new root estimate  are shown in red in the following representation:
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010200412

 is closer to the root r than either  x 1 or x 0 .  If we were to repeat the process we can very easily
see that  x 3 would be even closer to the root as shown below in green.

f ( x 1 )−f ( x 0)
To obtain x 2, the equation of the red line can be obtained. Its slope m is equal to .
x 1−x 0

f ( x 1 )−f ( x 0 )
Thus its equation is: y−f ( x 0 )= ( x−x 0).
x 1−x 0

f ( x 1 )−f ( x 0 )
Where x=x 2, ¿ 0 ; −f ( x 0 ) = ( x 2−x 0 ).
x 1−x 0

And if the equation is solved for x 2, the end result is the iteration formula:
x 1−x 0
x 2=x 1− f ( x0)
f ( x 1 )−f ( x0 )

References:

 Secant Method of Numerical analysis. (2020, August 16). GeeksforGeeks.

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/secant-method-of-numerical-analysis/

 Secant Method (Definition, Formula, Steps, and Examples). (n.d.). BYJUS.

https://byjus.com/maths/secant-method/

 Avriel, Mordecai (1976). Nonlinear Programming: Analysis and Methods. Prentice Hall.

pp. 220–221. ISBN 0-13-623603-0
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010200412

 Allen, Myron B.; Isaacson, Eli L. (1998). Numerical analysis for applied science. John

Wiley & Sons. pp. 188–195. ISBN  978-0-471-55266-6

The following pictures are results obtained from python for the equations:

(a) f(x) = x3 + 2x2 − 7x + 1

(b) f(x) = x2 − 5x + 2
Talya Timoçin
010200412