Appendix A.

The Cause of Divergence and Hunting.

A.1 Divergence.

In the development of the Bairstow Method, the iterated values of the remainder coefficients are given by a Taylor series expansion, thus


b1 ( r + Dr,s + Ds ) = b1 ( r,s ) + Dr b1 ( r,s )

r
+ Ds b1 ( r,s )

s
 + ¼
b0 ( r + Dr,s + Ds ) = b0 ( r,s ) + Dr b0 ( r,s )

r
+ Ds b0 ( r,s )

s
 + ¼
(A.1)

where b1( ) and b0( ) are the coefficient of x and the constant term in the division remainder.

This leads to


b1 ( r + Dr,s + Ds ) = b1 ( r,s ) + c2 Dr + c3 Ds + e1
b0 ( r + Dr,s + Ds ) = b0 ( r,s ) + c1 Dr + c2 Ds + e2
(A.2)


where c1, c2 and c3 are functions of r and s and the coefficients of the original equation, and e1 and e2 are second and higher order terms in the Taylor series expansion. If the method is to converge, the term on the LHS must tend to zero. The values of Dr and Ds are obtained by ignoring the e terms and assuming the LHS of (A.2) is indeed zero. This then leads to,


Ds =   c1 b1 ( r,s ) - c2 b0 ( r,s )

c22 - c1 c3
Dr =   c2 b0 ( r,s ) - c3 b1 ( r,s )

c22 - c1 c3
(A.3)


Substituting these terms back into (A.2) then gives


b1 ( r + Dr,s + Ds ) = e1
b0 ( r + Dr,s + Ds ) = e2
(A.4)


So that, possible divergence is apparently due to the second and higher order terms in the Taylor series expansion becoming dominant. These terms are higher order functions of r and s, and the coefficients of the original equation, which are fixed.

Let the e terms here be given by just the second order terms in the Taylor series expansion, then


e1 =   ( Dr )2

2!
  2b1 ( r,s )

r2
 +   ( Ds )2

2!
 2b1 ( r,s )

s2
e2 =   ( Dr )2

2!
 2b0 ( r,s )

r2
 +   ( Ds )2

2!
 2b0 ( r,s )

s2
(A.5)


For a quartic polynomial, in which the coefficient of the highest exponent has been normalised to unity


b1 ( r,s )

s
 = a3 + 2r = c3
b1 ( r,s )

r
 =   b0 ( r,s )

s
 = a2 + 2s + 2ra3 + 3r2 = c2
b0 ( r,s )

r
 = a1 + 2sa3 + 6rs + 2ra2 + 3r2a3 + 4r3 = c1
(A.6)


So that


2b1 ( r,s )

s2
 =  c3

s
 = 0
2b1 ( r,s )

r2
 =  c2

r
 = 2a3 + 6r
2b0 ( r,s )

s2
 =  c2

s
 = 2
2b0 ( r,s )

r2
 =  c1

r
 = 6s + 2a2 + 6ra3 + 12r2
(A.7)


where in (A.6) and (A.7) the "a" parameters are the coefficients of the original equation.

Substitution of (A.7) into (A.5) then gives


e1 =   ( Dr )2

2!
( 2a3 + 6r )
e2 =   ( Dr )2

2!
( 6s + 2a2 + 6ra3 + 12r2 ) + ( Ds )2
(A.8)


In (A.8), the coefficients of (Dr)2 and (Ds)2 are finite and from their form cannot be the source of divergence. Thus if divergence occurs it must be because Dr and Ds themselves diverge.

From (A.3) these terms will only diverge if


c22 - c1 c3 ® 0
(A.9)

Substitution of (A.6) into (A.9) yields


c22 - c1 c3 = r4 + 8a3 r3 + ( 6s + 5a2 + 5a32r2 + ( 43 as + 2a2 a3 - 2a32 s - 6a2 s - a1 a3r + 4a2 s + a22 - 2a32 s - a1 a3
(A.10)


and thus divergence can occur via the iteration process when r approaches any of the roots of (A.10). These roots clearly depend upon the value of s, and in the divergence avoider in this application therefore, it is sufficient, when necessary, to vary only s by a small amount to move r away from these roots, and ensure that the method converges.

Also note that with Dr and Ds as the ultimate source of divergence, the primary terms in (A.2) are also subject to this phenomenon and consequently, under these conditions, (A.4) is not a valid relationship.

For other higher order polynomials, the equivalent equation to (A.10) will be of the same order as the polynomial, giving more possibilities for divergence, but the same criteria applies with regard to avoidance.



M3 Version 1.0.0
Ó P.G.Bass, January 2010

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