Newton's Method

Work in progress. This note is still being written and incomplete.

Newton’s method for nonlinear systems generalizes the single-variable iteration g(x)=x−ϕ(x)f(x)g(x) = x - \phi(x)f(x), ϕ(x)=1/f′(x)\phi(x) = 1/f'(x), to nn dimensions by replacing ϕ(x)\phi(x) with the inverse of a matrix A(x⃗)A(\vec{x})

G(x⃗)=x⃗−A(x⃗)−1F(x⃗)G(\vec{x}) = \vec{x} - A(\vec{x})^{-1}F(\vec{x})

Quadratic convergence of this fixed-point iteration to p⃗\vec{p} requires ∂gi(p⃗)∂xk=0\dfrac{\partial g_i(\vec{p})}{\partial x_k} = 0 for each i,ki, k, which holds by choosing A(x⃗)A(\vec{x}) to be the Jacobian matrix J(x⃗)J(\vec{x}) of FF.

Iteration

G(x⃗)=x⃗−J(x⃗)−1F(x⃗)G(\vec{x}) = \vec{x} - J(\vec{x})^{-1}F(\vec{x}) x⃗(k)=x⃗(k−1)−J(x⃗(k−1))−1F(x⃗(k−1)),k≥1\vec{x}^{(k)} = \vec{x}^{(k-1)} - J(\vec{x}^{(k-1)})^{-1}F(\vec{x}^{(k-1)}), \quad k \geq 1

Convergence is quadratic, provided a sufficiently accurate starting value x⃗(0)\vec{x}^{(0)} is known and J(p⃗)−1J(\vec{p})^{-1} exists.

Example

Apply Newton’s method to the nonlinear system with its Jacobian, starting from x⃗(0)=(0.1,0.1,−0.1)T\vec{x}^{(0)} = (0.1, 0.1, -0.1)^T.

F(x⃗(0))≈(−1.199950,−2.269833,8.462025)TF(\vec{x}^{(0)}) \approx (-1.199950, -2.269833, 8.462025)^T J(x⃗(0))≈(30.001000−0.0010000.200000−32.4000000.995004−0.099005−0.09900520.000000)J(\vec{x}^{(0)}) \approx \begin{pmatrix} 3 & 0.001000 & -0.001000 \\ 0.200000 & -32.400000 & 0.995004 \\ -0.099005 & -0.099005 & 20.000000 \end{pmatrix}

Solving J(x⃗(0))y⃗(0)=−F(x⃗(0))J(\vec{x}^{(0)})\vec{y}^{(0)} = -F(\vec{x}^{(0)}) gives

y⃗(0)≈(0.399870,−0.080533,−0.421520)T\vec{y}^{(0)} \approx (0.399870, -0.080533, -0.421520)^T x⃗(1)=x⃗(0)+y⃗(0)≈(0.499870,0.019467,−0.521520)T\vec{x}^{(1)} = \vec{x}^{(0)} + \vec{y}^{(0)} \approx (0.499870, 0.019467, -0.521520)^T

Repeating converges to x⃗(5)≈(0.500000,0.000000,−0.523599)T\vec{x}^{(5)} \approx (0.500000, 0.000000, -0.523599)^T, matching the exact solution p⃗=(0.5,0,−π/6)\vec{p} = (0.5, 0, -\pi/6).

Written by September 28, 2026 1 min read
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