Finding roots of a function is often a task which faces mathematicians. For simple functions, such as linear ones, the task is simple. When functions become more complex, such as with cubic and quadratic functions, mathematicians call upon more convoluted methods of finding roots. For many functions, there exist formulas which allow us to find roots. The most common such formula is, perhaps, the quadratic formula. When functions reach a degree of five and higher, a convenient, root-finding formula ceases to exist. Newton’s method is a tool used to find the roots of nearly any equation. Unlike the cubic and quadratic equations, Newton’s method – more accurately, the Newton-Raphson Method – can help to find roots of nearly any type of function, including all polynomial functions.
Newton’s method use derivative calculus to find the roots of a function or relation by first taking an approximation and then improving the accuracy of that approximation ...