How to use Newton-Raphson method in matlab to find an equation root? - function

Question

I am a new user of MATLAB. I want to find the value that makes f(x) = 0, using the Newton-Raphson method. I have tried to write a code, but it seems that it's difficult to implement Newton-Raphson method. This is what I have so far:
function x = newton(x0, tolerance)
tolerance = 1.e-10;
format short e;
Params = load('saved_data.mat');
theta = pi/2;
zeta = cos(theta);
I = eye(Params.n,Params.n);
Q = zeta*I-Params.p*Params.p';
% T is a matrix(5,5)
Mroot = Params.M.^(1/2); %optimization
T = Mroot*Q*Mroot;
% Find the eigenvalues
E = real(eig(T));
% Find the negative eigenvalues
% Find the smallest negative eigenvalue
gamma = min(E);
% Now solve for lambda
M_inv = inv(Params.M); %optimization
zm = Params.zm;
x = x0;
err = (x - xPrev)/x;
while abs(err) > tolerance
xPrev = x;
x = xPrev - f(xPrev)./dfdx(xPrev);
% stop criterion: (f(x) - 0) < tolerance
err = f(x);
end
% stop criterion: change of x < tolerance % err = x - xPrev;
end
The above function is used like so:
% Calculate the functions
Winv = inv(M_inv+x.*Q);
f = #(x)( zm'*M_inv*Winv*M_inv*zm);
dfdx = #(x)(-zm'*M_inv*Winv*Q*M_inv*zm);
x0 = (-1/gamma)/2;
xRoot = newton(x0,1e-10);

Answer 1

The question isn't particularly clear. However, do you need to implement the root finding yourself? If not then just use Matlab's built in function fzero (not based on Newton-Raphson).
If you do need your own implementation of the Newton-Raphson method then I suggest using one of the answers to Newton Raphsons method in Matlab? as your starting point.
Edit: The following isn't answering your question, but is just a note on coding style.
It is useful to split your program up into reusable chunks. In this case your root finding should be separated from your function construction. I recommend writing your Newton-Raphson method in a separate file and call this from the script where you define your function and its derivative. Your source would then look some thing like:
% Define the function (and its derivative) to perform root finding on:
Params = load('saved_data.mat');
theta = pi/2;
zeta = cos(theta);
I = eye(Params.n,Params.n);
Q = zeta*I-Params.p*Params.p';
Mroot = Params.M.^(1/2);
T = Mroot*Q*Mroot; %T is a matrix(5,5)
E = real(eig(T)); % Find the eigen-values
gamma = min(E); % Find the smallest negative eigen value
% Now solve for lambda (what is lambda?)
M_inv = inv(Params.M);
zm = Params.zm;
Winv = inv(M_inv+x.*Q);
f = #(x)( zm'*M_inv*Winv*M_inv*zm);
dfdx = #(x)(-zm'*M_inv*Winv*Q*M_inv*zm);
x0 = (-1./gamma)/2.;
xRoot = newton(f, dfdx, x0, 1e-10);
In newton.m you would have your implementation of the Newton-Raphson method, which takes as arguments the function handles you define (f and dfdx). Using your code given in the question, this would look something like
function root = newton(f, df, x0, tol)
root = x0; % Initial guess for the root
MAXIT = 20; % Maximum number of iterations
for j = 1:MAXIT;
dx = f(root) / df(root);
root = root - dx
% Stop criterion:
if abs(dx) < tolerance
return
end
end
% Raise error if maximum number of iterations reached.
error('newton: maximum number of allowed iterations exceeded.')
end
Notice that I avoided using an infinite loop.