Looking for simple iteration method

[dmehling]

I'm looking for an easy way to perform simple iterations. For example using the equation: z^2 + c, although I don't need it to do complex numbers. Also, I would like the iterations to be listed in tabular form.

 

[LCKurtz]

It isn't very clear what you are asking. Iterations to do what? Solve f(x) = 0 by iteration?? Something like Newton's method? If you want results in a tabular form a spreadsheet might be just the ticket.

 

[Mark44]

I think you might be the same person who asked about the Mandelbrot set. What you want to do is this

Set c.

1. Set z with an initial value.
2. Evaluate z^2 + c.
3. Store the value of the previous step in z.
4. Go to step 2.

This is the basic idea, but it is oversimplified, and is an infinite loop. What you are doing is getting a sequence z₀, z₁, z₂, ...To keep the loop from iterating forever, you want to exit the loop when |z| gets above a certain size. It's been a while since I looked at any Mandelbrot algorithms, but maybe the cutoff is |z| >= 2.

Hope this helps.

 

[dmehling]

Yes, that is what I need to do. However, I'm not sure how I would actually implement this. I have no real experience in programming. I am looking for the easiest way of doing it.