POLY234
Display
(HP-41CX, Hewlett Packard 1983 and DM41X, SwissMicros 2020)
Overview
The POLY234 program calculates (!) the roots of 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree polynomials. Both real and complex roots can be calculated on the following basis:
Degree | Polynomial expression | Method of calcuation |
2nd | f(x) = x2 + a1x + a0 | Quadratic formula |
3rd | f(x) = x3 + a2x2 + a1x + a0 | Cardano’s formula |
4th | f(x) = x4 + a3x3 + a2x2 + a1x + a0 | Ferrari’s formula |
Another method of finding the roots of polynomials is through the Newton-Raphson method which is not part of this program. The reason being that finding roots by convergence is not deterministic and requires a different approach to programming.
Please note my default FIX 5 and European (flag 28) setting in below examples.
Program Listing
The listing of program POLY234 is given on the next page. The FIX 7 step in line 362 can sometimes lead to erroneous complex roots due to numerical limitations of the calculator’s mantissa. You may have to change it to FIX 6 when working with small and large coefficient values.
Downloads
PDF format of program POLY234.
RAW/TXT format of program POLY234 (in zip file).
© 2006-2021 by Auke Hoekstra