equations of the form x = f(x). For example, repeatedly
pushing the “cosine” button on a calculator will produce values that approach a solution to the equation
x = cos x. (As the calculator can only display eight or
10 decimal places, this means that the values shown
on the screen will eventually stabilize.) NEWTON’S
METHOD is often cited as the most widely used iterative procedure.
See also CONVERGENT SEQUENCE; DYNAMICAL SYSTEM; RECURSIVE DEFINITION.
286 iteration