A basic family of iteration functions for polynomial root finding and its characterizations

Let p(x) be a polynomial of degree n?2 with coefficients in a subfield K of the complex numbers. For each natural number m?2, let L_m(x) be the m×m lower triangular matrix whose diagonal entries are p(x) and for each j=1,…,m−1, its jth subdiagonal entries are . For i=1,2, let L_m^i)(x) be the matrix obtained from L_m(x) by deleting its first i rows and its last i columns. L₁⁽¹⁾(x)≡1. Then, the function B_m(x)=x−p(x) defines a fixed-point iteration function having mth order convergence rate for simple roots of p(x). For m=2 and 3, B_m(x) coincides with Newton's and Halley's, respectively. The function B_m(x) is a member of S(m,m+n−2), where for any M?m, S(m,M) is the set of all rational iteration functions g(x) ∈ K(x) such that for all roots θ of p(x), then g(x)=θ+∑_i=m^Mγ_i(x)(θ−x)ⁱ, with γ_i(x) ∈ K(x) and well-defined at any simple root θ. Given g ∈ S(m,M), and a simple root θ of p(x), gⁱ(θ)=0, i=1, …, m−1 and the asymptotic constant of convergence of the corresponding fixed-point iteration is . For B_m(x) we obtain . If all roots of p(x) are simple, B_m(x) is the unique member of S(m,m + n − 2). By making use of the identity , we arrive at two recursive formulas for constructing iteration functions within the S(m,M) family. In particular, the family of B_m(x) can be generated using one of these formulas. Moreover, the other formula gives a simple scheme for constructing a family of iteration functions credited to Euler as well as Schröder, whose mth order member belongs to S(m,mn), m>2. The iteration functions within S(m,M) can be extended to any arbitrary smooth function f, with the uniform replacement of p^(j) with f^(j) in g as well as in γ_m(θ).