One of the ideas which I’ve written about often is, that when certain Computer Algebra Software needs to compute the root of an equation, such as of a polynomial, an exact Algebraic solution, which is also referred to as the analytical solution, or symbolic Math, may not be at hand, and that therefore, the software uses numerical approximation, in a way that never churned out the Algebraic solution in the first place. And while it might sound disappointing, often, the numerical solution is what Engineers really need.
But one subject which I haven’t analyzed in-depth before, was, how this art might work. This is a subject which some people may study in University, and I never studied that. I can see that in certain cases, an obvious pathway suggests itself. For example, if somebody knows an interval for (x), and if the polynomial function of (x), that being (y), happens to be positive at one end of the interval, and negative at the other end, then it becomes feasible to keep bisecting the interval, so that if (y) is positive at the point of bisection, its value of (x) replaces the ‘positive’ value of (x) for the interval, while if at that new point, (y) is negative, its value for (x) replaces the ‘negative’ value of (x) for the interval. This can be repeated until the interval has become smaller than some amount, by which the root is allowed to be inaccurate.
But there exist certain cases in which the path forward is not as obvious, such as what one should do, if one was given a polynomial of an even degree, that only has complex roots, yet, if these complex roots nevertheless needed to be found. Granted, in practical terms such a problem may never present itself in the lifetime of the reader. But if it does, I just had lots of idle time, and have contemplated an answer.
(Updated 1/30/2019, 13h00 … )