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Convergence of Newton-Raphson method:

Suppose $ x_{r}$ is a root of $ f(x)=0$ and $ x_{n}$ is an estimate of $ x_{r}$ s.t. $ \vert x_{r}-x_{n}\vert=\delta << 1$. Then by Taylor series expansion we have,

for some between $ x_{n}$ and $ x_{r}$.
By Newton-Raphson method, we know that

$\displaystyle x_{n+1}=x_{n}-\frac{f(x_{n})}{f'(x_{n})}$

i.e.

Using(2*) in (1*) we get

Say $\displaystyle e_{n}=(x_{r}-x_{n}),\quad e_{n+1}=x_{r}-x_{n+1}$

where $ e_{n},\quad e_{n+1}$ denote the error in the solution at n$ ^{th}$ and (n+1)$ ^{th}$ iterations.

$\displaystyle \Rightarrow e_{n+1}\quad \propto \quad e^{2}_{n}$

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$ \therefore$ Newton Raphson Method is said to have quadratic convergence.

Note:
Alternatively, one can also prove the quadratic convergence of Newton-Raphson method based on the fixed - point theory. It is worth stating few comments on this approach as it is a more general approach covering most of the iteration schemes discussed earlier.

A Brief discussion on Fixed Point Iteration:
Suppose that we are given a function $ f(x)=0\qquad\qquad\qquad \,\,\,(i)$
on an interval $ [a,b]$ for which we need to find a root. Derive , from it, an equation of the form:

Any solution to (ii) is called a fixed point and it is a solution of (i). The function g(x) is called as "Iteration function".

Example:
Given $ f(x)=2x^{3.4}+4x^{2}+x-8=0$, one may re-write it as:

$\displaystyle x=g(x)=8-2x^{3.4}-4x^{2}$

or , $\displaystyle x=g(x)=\frac{\sqrt{8-x-2x^{3.4}}}{2}$

or , $\displaystyle x=g(x)=\{(8-x-4x^{2})/2\}^{1/3.4}$

where g(x) denotes possible choice iteration function.

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