Subject: finding multiple roots of non-polynomials
From: Robert Dodier
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:54:01 -0600
> These zeroes are generally transcendental
> numbers. If you want to find approximate
> zeros of functions (functions that maxima can numerically
> evaluate), you can use some kind of iteration
> (secant or newton) to converge to a root from
> an initial guess.
the script mnewton.mac in
http://cvs.sf.net/viewcvs.py/maxima/maxima/share/contrib/
implements newton's method. it worked for me in some
problems. a bug has been fixed in the cvs version,
so don't use the one bundled with maxima 5.9.1.
fwiw,
robert dodier