Solution of non-linear equations

By Gilberto E. Urroz, September 2004

In this document I present methods for the solution of single non-linear equations as well
as for systems of such equations.

Solution of a single non-linear equation

Equations that can be cast in the form of a polynomial are referred to as algebraic
equations. Equations involving more complicated terms, such as trigonometric,
hyperbolic, exponential, or logarithmic functions are referred to as transcendental
equations. The methods presented in this section are numerical methods that can be
applied to the solution of such equations, to which we will refer, in general, as non-linear
equations. In general, we will we searching for one, or more, solutions to the equation,

f(x) = 0.

We will present the Newton-Raphson algorithm, and the secant method. In the secant
method we need to provide two initial values of x to get the algorithm started. In the
Newton-Raphson methods only one initial value is required.

Because the solution is not exact, the algorithms for any of the methods presented herein
will not provide the exact solution to the equation f(x) = 0, instead, we will stop the
algorithm when the equation is satisfied within an allowed tolerance or error, ε. In
mathematical terms this is expressed as

|f(xR)| < ε.

The value of x for which the non-linear equation f(x)=0 is satisfied, i.e., x = xR, will be
the solution, or root, to the equation within an error of ε units.

The Newton-Raphson method

Consider the Taylor-series expansion of the function f(x) about a value x = xo:

f(x)= f(xo)+f'(xo)(x-xo)+(f"(xo)/2!)(x-xo)2+….

Using only the first two terms of the expansion, a first approximation to the root of the
equation
f(x) = 0

can be obtained from

f(x) = 0 ≈ f(xo)+f'(xo)(x1 -xo)

1
Such approximation is given by,

x1 = xo - f(xo)/f'(xo).

The Newton-Raphson method consists in obtaining improved values of the approximate

root through the recurrent application of equation above. For example, the second and
third approximations to that root will be given by

x2 = x1 - f(x1)/f'(x1),
and
x3= x2 - f(x2)/f'(x2),

respectively.

This iterative procedure can be generalized by writing the following equation, where i
represents the iteration number:

xi+1 = xi - f(xi)/f'(xi).

After each iteration the program should check to see if the convergence condition,
namely,
|f(x i+1)|<ε,
is satisfied.

The figure below illustrates the way in which the solution is found by using the Newton-
Raphson method. Notice that the equation f(x) = 0 ≈ f(xo)+f'(xo)(x1 -xo) represents a
straight line tangent to the curve y = f(x) at x = xo. This line intersects the x-axis (i.e., y =
f(x) = 0) at the point x1 as given by x1 = xo - f(xo)/f'(xo). At that point we can construct
another straight line tangent to y = f(x) whose intersection with the x-axis is the new
approximation to the root of f(x) = 0, namely, x = x2. Proceeding with the iteration we
can see that the intersection of consecutive tangent lines with the x-axis approaches the
actual root relatively fast.

2
The Newton-Raphson method converges relatively fast for most functions regardless of
the initial value chosen. The main disadvantage is that you need to know not only the
function f(x), but also its derivative, f'(x), in order to achieve a solution. The secant
method, discussed in the following section, utilizes an approximation to the derivative,
thus obviating such requirement.

The programming algorithm of any of these methods must include the option of stopping
the program if the number of iterations grows too large. How large is large? That will
depend of the particular problem solved. However, any Newton-Raphson, or secant
method solution that takes more than 1000 iterations to converge is either ill-posed or
contains a logical error. Debugging of the program will be called for at this point by
changing the initial values provided to the program, or by checking the program's logic.

A MATLAB function for the Newton-Raphson method

The function newton, listed below, implements the Newton-Raphson algorithm. It uses
as arguments an initial value and expressions for f(x) and f'(x).

function [x,iter]=newton(x0,f,fp)
% newton-raphson algorithm
N = 100; eps = 1.e-5; % define max. no. iterations and error
maxval = 10000.0; % define value for divergence
xx = x0;
while (N>0)
xn = xx-f(xx)/fp(xx);
if abs(f(xn))<eps
x=xn;iter=100-N;
return;
end;
if abs(f(xx))>maxval
disp(['iterations = ',num2str(iter)]);
error('Solution diverges');
break;
end;
N = N - 1;
xx = xn;
end;
error('No convergence');
break;
% end function

We will use the Newton-Raphson method to solve for the equation, f(x) = x3-2x2+1 = 0.
The following MATLAB commands define the function f001(x) and its derivative,
f01p(x):

»f001 = inline('x.^3-2*x.^2+1','x')

f001 =

Inline function:
f001(x) = x.^3-2*x.^2+1

3
» f01p = inline('3*x.^2-2','x')

f01p =

Inline function:
f01p(x) = 3*x.^2-2

To have an idea of the location of the roots of this polynomial we'll plot the function
using the following MATLAB commands:

» x = [-0.8:0.01:2.0]';y=f001(x);
» plot(x,y);xlabel('x');ylabel('f001(x)');
» grid on

0.5
f001(x)

-0.5

-1
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
x

We see that the function graph crosses the x-axis somewhere between –1.0 and –0.5,
close to 1.0, and between 1.5 and 2.0. To activate the function we could use, for
example, an initial value x0 = 2:

» [x,iterations] = newton(2,f001,f01p)

x = 1.6180

iterations = 39

The following command are aimed at obtaining vectors of the solutions provided by
function newton.m for f001(x)=0 for initial values in the vector x0 such that –20 < x0 <
20. The solutions found are stored in variable xs while the required number of iterations
is stored in variable is.

» x0 = [-20:0.5:20]; xs = []; is = [];

EDU» for i = 1:length(x0)
[xx,ii] = newton(x0(i),f001,f01p);
xs = [xs,xx]; is = [is,ii];
end

Plot of xs vs. x0, and of is vs. x0 are shown next:

4
» figure(1);plot(x0,xs,'o');hold;plot(x0,xs,'-');hold;
» title('Newton-Raphson solution');
» xlabel('initial guess, x0');ylabel('solution, xs');

Newton-Raphson solution
1.8

1.7

1.6

1.5
solution, xs

1.4

1.3

1.2

1.1

1
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
initial guess, x0

This figure shows that for initial guesses in the range –20 < xo<20, function newton.m
converges mainly to the solution x = 1.6180, with few instances converting to the
solutions x = -1 and x = 1.
» figure(2);plot(x0,is,'+'); hold;plot(x0,is,'-');hold;
» title('Newton-Raphson solution');
» xlabel('initial guess, x0');ylabel('iterations, is');

Newton-Raphson solution
70

60

50
iterations, is

40

30

20

10

0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
initial guess, x0

This figure shows that the number of iterations required to achieve a solution ranges from
0 to about 65. Most of the time, about 50 iterations are required. The following example
shows a case in which the solution actually diverges:

5
» [x,iter] = newton(-20.75,f001,f01p)
iterations = 6
??? Error using ==> newton
Solution diverges

NOTE: If the function of interest is defined by an m-file, the reference to the function
name in the call to newton.m should be placed between quotes.

The Secant Method

In the secant method, we replace the derivative f'(xi) in the Newton-Raphson method with

f'(xi) ≈ (f(xi) - f(xi-1))/(xi - xi-1).

With this replacement, the Newton-Raphson algorithm becomes

f ( xi )
xi +1 = xi − ⋅ ( xi − xi −1 ).
f ( xi ) − f ( xi −1 )

To get the method started we need two values of x, say xo and x1, to get the first
approximation to the solution, namely,
f ( x1 )
x 2 = x1 − ⋅ ( x1 − x 0 ).
f ( x1 ) − f ( xo )

As with the Newton-Raphson method, the iteration is stopped when

|f(x i+1)|<ε.

Figure 4, below, illustrates the way that the secant method approximates the solution of
the equation f(x) = 0.

6
A MATLAB function for the secant method

The function secant, listed below, uses the secant method to solve for non-linear
equations. It requires two initial values and an expression for the function, f(x).

function [x,iter]=secant(x0,x00,f)
% newton-raphson algorithm
N = 100; eps = 1.e-5; % define max. no. iterations and error
maxval = 10000.0; % define value for divergence
xx1 = x0; xx2 = x00;
while N>0
gp = (f(xx2)-f(xx1))/(xx2-xx1);
xn = xx1-f(xx1)/gp;
if abs(f(xn))<eps
x=xn;
iter = 100-N;
return;
end;
if abs(f(xn))>maxval
iter=100-N;
disp(['iterations = ',num2str(iter)]);
error('Solution diverges');
abort;
end;
N = N - 1;
xx1 = xx2;
xx2 = xn;
end;
iter=100-N;
disp(['iterations = ',iter]);
error('No convergence');
abort;
% end function

Application of secant method

We use the same function f001(x) = 0 presented earlier. The following commands call
the function secant.txt to obtain a solution to the equation:

» [x,iter] = secant(-10.0,-9.8,f001)

x = -0.6180

iter = 11

The following command are aimed at obtaining vectors of the solutions provided by
function Newton.m for f001(x)=0 for initial values in the vector x0 such that –20 < x0 <
20. The solutions found are stored in variable xs while the required number of iterations
is stored in variable is.

7
» x0 = [-20:0.5:20]; x00 = x0 + 0.5; xs = []; is = [];
» for i = 1:length(x0)
[xx,ii] = secant(x0(i),x00(i),f001);
xs = [xs, xx]; is = [is, ii];
end

Plot of xs vs. x0, and of is vs. x0 are shown next:

» figure(1);plot(x0,xs,'o');hold;plot(x0,xs,'-');hold;
» title('Secant method solution');
» xlabel('first initial guess, x0');ylabel('solution, xs');

Secant method solution

2

1.5

1
solution, xs

0.5

-0.5

-1
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
first initial guess, x0

This figure shows that for initial guesses in the range –20 < xo<20, function newton.m
converges to the three solutions. Notice that initial guesses in the range –20 < x0 < -1,
converge to x = - 0.6180; those in the range –1< x < 1, converge to x = 1; and, those in
the range 1<x<20, converge to x =1.6180.
» figure(2);plot(x0,is,'o');hold;plot(x0,is,'-');hold;
» xlabel('first initial guess, x0');ylabel('iterations, is');
» title('Secant method solution');

Secant method solution

15

10
iterations, is

0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
first initial guess, x0

8
 This figure shows that the number of iterations required to achieve a solution ranges
from 0 to about 15. Notice also that, the closer the initial guess is to zero, the less
number of iterations to convergence are required.

NOTE: If the function of interest is defined by an m-file, the reference to the function
name in the call to newton.m should be placed between quotes.

Solving systems of non-linear equations

Consider the solution to a system of n non-linear equations in n unknowns given by

f1(x1,x2,…,xn) = 0
f2(x1,x2,…,xn) = 0
.
.
.
fn(x1,x2,…,xn) = 0

The system can be written in a single expression using vectors, i.e.,

f(x) = 0,

where the vector x contains the independent variables, and the vector f contains the
functions fi(x):
 x1   f1 ( x1 , x 2 ,..., x n )   f1 (x) 
x   f ( x , x ,..., x )   f (x) 
x =  2  , f ( x) =  2 1 2 n 
=  2 .
M  M   M 
     
 xn   f n ( x1 , x 2 ,..., x n )  f n (x)

Newton-Raphson method to solve systems of non-linear equations

A Newton-Raphson method for solving the system of linear equations requires the
evaluation of a matrix, known as the Jacobian of the system, which is defined as:

 ∂f1 / ∂x1 ∂f 1 / ∂x 2 L ∂f1 / ∂x n 

 L ∂f 2 / ∂x n 
∂ ( f 1 , f 2 ,..., f n ) ∂f 2 / ∂x1 ∂f 2 / ∂x 2 ∂f
J= = = [ i ] n×n .
∂ ( x1 , x 2 ,..., x n )  M M O M  ∂x j
 
∂f n / ∂x1 ∂f n / ∂x 2 L ∂f n / ∂x n 

If x = x0 (a vector) represents the first guess for the solution, successive approximations
to the solution are obtained from
xn+1 = xn - J-1⋅f(xn) = xn - ∆xn,
with ∆xn = xn+1 - xn.

9
A convergence criterion for the solution of a system of non-linear equation could be, for
example, that the maximum of the absolute values of the functions fi(xn) is smaller than a
certain tolerance ε, i.e.,
max | f i (x n ) |< ε .
i

Another possibility for convergence is that the magnitude of the vector f(xn) be smaller
than the tolerance, i.e.,
|f(xn)| < ε.

We can also use as convergence criteria the difference between consecutive values of the
solution, i.e.,
max | ( xi ) n +1 − ( xi ) n | < ε .,
i
or,
|∆xn | = |xn+1 - xn| < ε.

The main complication with using Newton-Raphson to solve a system of non-linear

equations is having to define all the functions ∂fi/∂xj, for i,j = 1,2, …, n, included in the
Jacobian. As the number of equations and unknowns, n, increases, so does the number
of elements in the Jacobian, n2.

MATLAB function for Newton-Raphson method for a system of non-linear equations

The following MATLAB function, newtonm, calculates the solution to a system of n non-
linear equations, f(x) = 0, given the vector of functions f and the Jacobian J, as well as an
initial guess for the solution x0.

function [x,iter] = newtonm(x0,f,J)

% Newton-Raphson method applied to a

% system of linear equations f(x) = 0,
% given the jacobian function J, with
% J = del(f1,f2,...,fn)/del(x1,x2,...,xn)
% x = [x1;x2;...;xn], f = [f1;f2;...;fn]
% x0 is an initial guess of the solution

N = 100; % define max. number of iterations

epsilon = 1e-10; % define tolerance
maxval = 10000.0; % define value for divergence
xx = x0; % load initial guess

while (N>0)
JJ = feval(J,xx);
if abs(det(JJ))<epsilon
error('newtonm - Jacobian is singular - try new x0');
abort;
end;
xn = xx - inv(JJ)*feval(f,xx);

10
 if abs(feval(f,xn))<epsilon
x=xn;
iter = 100-N;
return;
end;
if abs(feval(f,xx))>maxval
iter = 100-N;
disp(['iterations = ',num2str(iter)]);
error('Solution diverges');
abort;
end;
N = N - 1;
xx = xn;
end;
error('No convergence after 100 iterations.');
abort;
% end function

The functions f and the Jacobian J need to be defined as separate functions. To illustrate
the definition of the functions consider the system of non-linear equations:

f1(x1,x2) = x12 + x22 - 50 = 0,

f2(x1,x2) = x1 ⋅ x2 - 25 = 0,

whose Jacobian is

 ∂f1 ∂f1 
 ∂x ∂x 2  2 x1 2 x2 
J= 1 = .
 ∂f 2 ∂f 2   x 2 x1 
 ∂x1 ∂x 2 

We can define the function f as the following user-defined MATLAB function f2:

function [f] = f2(x)

% f2(x) = 0, with x = [x(1);x(2)]
% represents a system of 2 non-linear equations
f1 = x(1)^2 + x(2)^2 - 50;
f2 = x(1)*x(2) -25;
f = [f1;f2];
% end function

The corresponding Jacobian is calculated using the user-defined MATLAB function

jacob2x2:

function [J] = jacob2x2(x)

% Evaluates the Jacobian of a 2x2
% system of non-linear equations
J(1,1) = 2*x(1); J(1,2) = 2*x(2);
J(2,1) = x(2); J(2,2) = x(1);
% end function

11
Illustrating the Newton-Raphson algorithm for a system of two non-linear equations

Before using function newtonm, we will perform some step-by-step calculations to

illustrate the algorithm. We start by defining an initial guess for the solution as:

» x0 = [2;1]

x0 =

2
1

Let’s calculate the function f(x) at x = x0 to see how far we are from a solution:

» f2(x0)

ans =

-45
-23

Obviously, the function f(x0) is far away from being zero. Thus, we proceed to calculate
a better approximation by calculating the Jacobian J(x0):

» J0 = jacob2x2(x0)

J0 =

4 2
1 2

The new approximation to the solution, x1, is calculated as:

» x1 = x0 - inv(J0)*f2(x0)

x1 =

9.3333
8.8333

Evaluating the functions at x1 produces:

f2(x1)

ans = 115.1389

Still far away from convergence. Let’s calculate a new approximation, x2:

» x2 = x1-inv(jacob2x2(x1))*f2(x1)

x2 =

6.0428
5.7928

12
Evaluating the functions at x2 indicates that the values of the functions are decreasing:

» f2(x2)

ans =

20.0723
10.0049

A new approximation and the corresponding function evaluations are:

» x3 = x2 - inv(jacob2x2(x2))*f2(x2)

x3 =

5.1337
5.0087

E» f2(x3)

ans =

1.4414
0.7129

The functions are getting even smaller suggesting convergence towards a solution.

Solution using function newtonm

Next, we use function newtonm to solve the problem postulated earlier.

A call to the function using the values of x0, f2, and jacob2x2 is:

» [x,iter] = newtonm(x0,'f2','jacob2x2')

x =

5.0000
5.0000

iter =

16

The result shows the number of iterations required for convergence (16) and the solution
found as x1 = 5.0000 and x2 = 5.000. Evaluating the functions for those solutions results
in:

» f2(x)

ans =

1.0e-010 *
0.2910
-0.1455

13
The values of the functions are close enough to zero (error in the order of 10-11).

“Secant” method to solve systems of non-linear equations

In this section we present a method for solving systems of non-linear equations through
the Newton-Raphson algorithm, namely, xn+1 = xn - J-1⋅f(xn), but approximating the
Jacobian through finite differences. This approach is a generalization of the secant
method for a single non-linear equation. For that reason, we refer to the method applied
to a system of non-linear equations as a “secant” method, although the geometric origin
of the term not longer applies.

The “secant” method for a system of non-linear equations free us from having to define
the n2 functions necessary to define the Jacobian for a system of n equations. Instead, we
approximate the partial derivatives in the Jacobian with

∂f i f i ( x1 , x 2 ,L, x j + ∆x,L, x n ) − f i ( x1 , x 2 ,L , x j ,L, x n )

≈ ,
∂x j ∆x

where ∆x is a small increment in the independent variables. Notice that ∂fi/∂xj represents
element Jij in the jacobian J = ∂(f1,f2,…,fn)/∂(x1,x2,…,xn).

To calculate the Jacobian we proceed by columns, i.e., column j of the Jacobian will be
calculated as shown in the function jacobFD (jacobian calculated through Finite
Differences) listed below:

function [J] = jacobFD(f,x,delx)

% Calculates the Jacobian of the
% system of non-linear equations:
% f(x) = 0, through finite differences.
% The Jacobian is built by columns

[m n] = size(x);

for j = 1:m
xx = x;
xx(j) = x(j) + delx;
J(:,j) = (f(xx)-f(x))/delx;
end;
% end function

Notice that for each column (i.e., each value of j) we define a variable xx which is first
made equal to x, and then the j-th element is incremented by delx, before calculating the
j-th column of the Jacobian, namely, J(:,j). This is the MATLAB implementation of the
finite difference approximation for the Jacobian elements Jij = ∂fi/∂xj as defined earlier.

14
Illustrating the “secant” algorithm for a system of two non-linear equations

To illustrate the application of the “secant” algorithm we use again the system of two
non-linear equations defined earlier through the function f2.

We choose an initial guess for the solution as x0 = [2;3], and an increment in the
independent variables of ∆x = 0.1:

x0 = [2;3]

x0 =

2
3

EDU» dx = 0.1

dx = 0.1000

Variable J0 will store the Jacobian corresponding to x0 calculated through finite

differences with the value of ∆x defined above:

» J0 = jacobFD('f2',x0,dx)

J0 =

4.1000 6.1000
3.0000 2.0000

A new estimate for the solution, namely, x1, is calculated using the Newton-Raphson
algorithm:

» x1 = x0 - inv(J0)*f2(x0)

x1 =

6.1485
6.2772

The finite-difference Jacobian corresponding to x1 gets stored in J1:

» J1 = jacobFD('f2',x1,dx)

J1 =

12.3970 12.6545
6.2772 6.1485

And a new approximation for the solution (x2) is calculated as:

» x2 = x1 - inv(J1)*f2(x1)

x2 =
4.6671
5.5784

15
The next two approximations to the solution (x3 and x4) are calculated without first
storing the corresponding finite-difference Jacobians:

» x3 = x2 - inv(jacobFD('f2',x2,dx))*f2(x2)

x3 =

4.7676
5.2365

EDU» x4 = x3 - inv(jacobFD('f2',x3,dx))*f2(x3)

x4 =

4.8826
5.1175

To check the value of the functions at x = x4 we use:

» f2(x4)

ans =

0.0278
-0.0137

The functions are close to zero, but not yet at an acceptable error (i.e., something in the
order of 10-6). Therefore, we try one more approximation to the solution, i.e., x5:

» x5 = x4 - inv(jacobFD('f2',x4,dx))*f2(x4)

x5 =

4.9413
5.0587

The functions are even closer to zero than before, suggesting a convergence to a solution.

» f2(x5)

ans =

0.0069
-0.0034

MATLAB function for “secant” method to solve systems of non-linear equations

To make the process of achieving a solution automatic, we propose the following

MATLAB user -defined function, secantm:

function [x,iter] = secantm(x0,dx,f)

% Secant-type method applied to a

% system of linear equations f(x) = 0,

16
% given the jacobian function J, with
% The Jacobian built by columns.
% x = [x1;x2;...;xn], f = [f1;f2;...;fn]
% x0 is the initial guess of the solution
% dx is an increment in x1,x2,... variables

N = 100; % define max. number of iterations

epsilon = 1.0e-10; % define tolerance
maxval = 10000.0; % define value for divergence

if abs(dx)<epsilon
error('dx = 0, use different values');
break;
end;

xn = x0; % load initial guess

[n m] = size(x0);

while (N>0)
JJ = [1,2;2,3]; xx = zeros(n,1);
for j = 1:n % Estimating
xx = xn; % Jacobian by
xx(j) = xn(j) + dx; % finite
fxx = feval(f,xx);
fxn = feval(f,xn);
JJ(:,j) = (fxx-fxn)/dx; % differences
end; % by columns

if abs(det(JJ))<epsilon
error('newtonm - Jacobian is singular - try new x0,dx');
break;
end;

xnp1 = xn - inv(JJ)*fxn;
fnp1 = feval(f,xnp1);

if abs(fnp1)<epsilon
x=xnp1;
disp(['iterations: ', num2str(100-N)]);
return;
end;

if abs(fnp1)>maxval
disp(['iterations: ', num2str(100-N)]);
error('Solution diverges');
break;
end;

N = N - 1;
xn = xnp1;
end;
error('No convergence');
break;
% end function

17
Solution using function secantm

To solve the system represented by function f2, we now use function secantm. The
following call to function secantm produces a solution after 18 iterations:

» [x,iter] = secantm(x0,dx,'f2')
iterations: 18

x =

5.0000
5.0000

iter =

18

Solving equations with Matlab function fzero

Matlab provides function fzero for the solution of single non-linear equations. Use

» help fzero

to obtain additional information on function fzero. Also, read Chapter 7 (Function

Functions) in the Using Matlab guide.

For the solution of systems of non-linear equations Matlab provides function fsolve as
part of the Optimization package. Since this is an add-on package, function fsolve is not
available in the student version of Matlab. If using the full version of Matlab, check the
help facility for function fsolve by using:

» help fsolve

If function fsolve is not available in the Matlab installation you are using, you can always
use function secantm (or newtonm) to solve systems of non-linear equations.

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