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A few threads back Hugh Steers pointed out a method for finding the roots of a nonlinear function by Russian mathematician Ostrowski. I checked Luyka's web page which discussed that method and presented the code for the algorithm. It did real well.

I further searched the Internet for articles about root-seeking method based on Ostrowski's method. I found several articles that further accelerated the convergence for that algorithm. A few articles were published by Chinese mathematician Zou (and colleagues) and offer somewhat elaborate enhancements to Ostrowski's method. These enhancements can solve for a root in TWO iterations (requiring 9 function calls) as compared to 6 iterations (and 12 function call) with Newton's method!. The fast Halley's method required 3 iterations and 9 function calls. The basic Ostrowski method took 3 iterations and 7 function call.

So thank you Lyuka for pointing me to Ostrowski's method. I really enjoyed learning about it and about its variants.

More gems in the root-seeking toolbox. Just when I thoght I learned about all the algorithms available, I get to learn about new and even more efficient ones!!

Namir

Hi,

The Ostrowski's method is a kind of root finding algorithm that uses reverse-interpolation to approximate the root.

So, any other interpolation, such as Lagrange interpolation, can be used as a root finding algorithm.

If you use that of n=3, a recurrence equation

can be used instead of Ostrowski's

This can be tested replacing a line in _ost.c

Quote:

---

t = (h * a - b) / (h - 1.0);

---

Quote:

---

t  = a * e * f * (f - e) - b * d * f * (f - d) + c * d * e * (e - d);

t /= (f - e) * (f - d) * (e - d);

---

IMHO, the most important thing as a root finding algorithm is not
the order of convergence, but the stability of convergence, i.e. ability to find a root with very few chance of divergence.

Regards,

Lyuka