Obtaining zeros of non-linear equation using Microsoft Excel

by Kardi Teknomo

Suppose you want to find the root of this non-linear equation: The graph of the function is exhibit in the figure below

From the picture above, we can guess that the root of the non-linear equation is between 0 and -2.

You can download free spreadsheet here

The steps by step procedure is as follow

1. Input the value of parameter a = 2 in cell B3. This is useful if you want to check the effect of parameter

2. Input initial value of x (you may guess any number) in cell B4

3. Type the non-linear equation in B5

4. From the menu of MS Excel, click Tools-Goal Seek … and Goal Seek dialog show up.

5. Set cell B5 ( the non-linear equation ) to value 0 ( target value ) by changing cell $B$4 ( initial guess of x ) and click OK button.

6. The result is shown in the figure below. The root of the non-linear equation is -1.029. Inputting this root to the equation will make the value of f(x) = 0

See also:
Goal Seek Tutorial, MS Excel Tutorial index, Kardi Teknomo's Tutorial

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Preferable reference for this tutorial is

Teknomo, Kardi. Obtaining zeros of non-linear equation using Microsoft Excel. http:\\people.revoledu.com\kardi\ tutorial\Excel\ZerosNonLinearEquation.html