Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Dynamics Of Newton's Method On Cubic Polynomials, Shannon N. Miller

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The field of dynamics is itself a huge part of many branches of science, including the motion of the planets and galaxies, changing weather patterns, and the growth and decline of populations. Consider a function f and pick x0 in the domain of f . If we iterate this function around the point x0, then we will have the sequence x0, f (x0), f (f (x0)), f (f (f (x0))), ..., which becomes our dynamical system. We are essentially interested in the end behavior of this system. Do …