Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-year-1-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2019/discrete-mathematics-continuous-mathematics-and-probability-resit/5/a/iii/solution
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2019 Discrete mathematics, continuous mathematics, and probability resit 5 a iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
A small difference between successive secant method iterates alone does not certify a small absolute error. Instead use a residual root error bound. On ,and , so there is a unique root . For an iterate , the mean value theorem givesTherefore stop when and . This guarantees the desired absolute error in exact arithmetic; the evaluated residual of a root equation should include an allowance for its much smaller roundoff error. A safeguarded implementation can retain the bracket and use bisection if a proposed secant method step leaves it.
New to topics? Read the docs here!