Newton’s Method

The following figure shows the basins of attraction for z → z⁵−1 using Newton’s method in the complex plane:

Here’s the code (we find the fixed point of

which should land on a solution to z⁵ = 1, for a 125-by-125 array of complex starting values between −1.5 − 1.5 i and 1.5 + 1.5 i; we color each point on the array according to the solution that Newton’s method ends with, or rather the phase of the ending point, which amounts to the same thing):

theFunction[z_] := z^5;

iterateThis[z_] = z - (theFunction[z] - 1)/theFunction'[z];

(* at the moment, the graph is backwards, but I can live with that *)

ContourPlot[
  Arg[
      FixedPoint[ iterateThis, x + I y, 30 ]],
        {x, -1.5, 1.5}, {y, -1.5, 1.5},
  ContourLines -> False, PlotPoints -> 125,
  ColorFunction -> Hue, Axes -> False, Frame -> False ];

Using the enhanced Compile function in Mathematica version 3.0, we can make this roughly a zillion times faster:

(* works just for z^n = 1, integer n > 2;
    should be a snap to modify it to work with any poly. function,
    but I have to get back to work now *)

newt =
  Compile[{{n, _Integer}, {z, _Complex}},
     Arg[ FixedPoint[# - (#^n - 1)/(n #^(n - 1))&, z, 35] ]];

Show[
  GraphicsArray[
    Partition[
      Table[
        ListDensityPlot[Table[newt[n, b + a I],
          {a, -1.1, 1.1, 0.03}, {b, 1.1, -1.1, -0.03}], 
          Mesh -> False, ColorFunction -> Hue, Frame -> False, 
          DisplayFunction -> Identity],
        {n, 4, 12}],
      3],
    GraphicsSpacing -> 0.05]]

More of the same:

Designed and rendered too long ago using Mathematica 3.0 for the Apple Macintosh.

Fame, esoteric and imagined: The previous image was used on the cover of The Mathematica Journal, issue 7, volume 1.

© 1996–2025 Robert Dickau.

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