But on second thought, how about another hint. How are imaginary roots approximated? For each root, do you try to approximate root.real and root.imag simultaneously, or what? Sounds mind-boggling. Maybe I should start by approximating real roots, if they exist; and cut my teeth on quadratic equations where b**2 - 4*a*c >= 0! Or linear equations.
Thank you.
Dick Moores
Alan Gauld wrote at 09:25 12/12/2004:
> Are these "numerical approximation methods" pythonically possible? >
Yes and that's how they are normally found - not necessarily with Python, but by applying computer simulations of the equations. Generally you calculate values in ever decreasing increments until you get enough accuracy. eg you discover a zero crossingh between 3 and 4, then between 3.3 and 3.4 then between 3.36 and 3.37 and so on...
Caveat: You also need to look out for double crossings within a single step change, so don't make the steps too big. And check the number of roots you expect versus the number you get as an error detection scheme.
Alan G.
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