Newton's Polynomial Solver

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This Demonstration shows Newton's method of finding approximate roots of an equation by using three slide rules, called primary, secondary, and tertiary. We can read
directly with an auxiliary primary rule. We calculate the value of polynomial
for
,
, and
. If its value for
is near
,
is approximately a root of the equation.
Contributed by: Izidor Hafner (October 2012)
Based on a note by: C. J. Sangwin
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Snapshots
Details
The slide rules are called primary, secondary, and tertiary. On the primary rule we read according identity
. On the secondary rule we read
according
. The tertiary rule gives us
,
. The actual value of the polynomial
at
is
, the signs being determined appropriately.
Reference
[1] C. J. Sangwin, "Newton's Polynomial Solver," Journal of the Oughtred Society, 11(1), 2002. pp. 3–7. web.mat.bham.ac.uk/C.J.Sangwin/Sliderules/newtonpoly.pdf.
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