In numerical analysis, the secant method is a root-finding algorithm that uses a succession of roots of secant lines to better approximate a root of a function f. The secant method can be thought of as a finite difference approximation of Newton's method. However, the method was developed independently of Newton's method, and predated the latter by over 3,000 years.
Read more about Secant Method: The Method, Derivation of The Method, Convergence, Comparison With Other Root-finding Methods, Generalizations, A Computational Example
Famous quotes containing the word method:
“In child rearing it would unquestionably be easier if a child were to do something because we say so. The authoritarian method does expedite things, but it does not produce independent functioning. If a child has not mastered the underlying principles of human interactions and merely conforms out of coercion or conditioning, he has no tools to use, no resources to apply in the next situation that confronts him.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)