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Use of Newton's method to compute square roots. Newton's method is one of many known methods of computing square roots. Given a positive number a, the problem of finding a number x such that x2 = a is equivalent to finding a root of the function f(x) = x2 − a. The Newton iteration defined by this function is given by.
Doubling the cube is the construction, using only a straightedge and compass, of the edge of a cube that has twice the volume of a cube with a given edge. This is impossible because the cube root of 2, though algebraic, cannot be computed from integers by addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and taking square roots.
n th root. n. th root. In mathematics, taking the nth root is an operation involving two numbers, the radicand and the index or degree. Taking the nth root is written as , where x is the radicand and n is the index (also sometimes called the degree). This is pronounced as "the nth root of x". The definition then of an nth root of a number x is ...
Halley's method. In numerical analysis, Halley's method is a root-finding algorithm used for functions of one real variable with a continuous second derivative. Edmond Halley was an English mathematician and astronomer who introduced the method now called by his name. The algorithm is second in the class of Householder's methods, after Newton's ...
If division is much more costly than multiplication, it may be preferable to compute the inverse square root instead. Other methods are available to compute the square root digit by digit, or using Taylor series . Rational approximations of square roots may be calculated using continued fraction expansions .
Secant method. In numerical analysis, the secant method is a root-finding algorithm that uses a succession of roots of secant lines to better approximate a root of a function f. The secant method can be thought of as a finite-difference approximation of Newton's method. However, the secant method predates Newton's method by over 3000 years.
Both use the polynomial and its two first derivations for an iterative process that has a cubic convergence. Combining two consecutive steps of these methods into a single test, one gets a rate of convergence of 9, at the cost of 6 polynomial evaluations (with Horner rule). On the other hand, combining three steps of Newtons method gives a rate ...
Doubling the cube, also known as the Delian problem, is an ancient [a] [1] : 9 geometric problem. Given the edge of a cube, the problem requires the construction of the edge of a second cube whose volume is double that of the first. As with the related problems of squaring the circle and trisecting the angle, doubling the cube is now known to ...