import math def poly(xs: list, x: float): """ Evaluates polynomial with coefficients xs at point x. return xs[0] + xs[1] * x + xs[1] * x^2 + .... xs[n] * x^n """ return sum([coeff * math.pow(x, i) for i, coeff in enumerate(xs)]) def find_zero(xs: list): """ xs are coefficients of a polynomial. find_zero find x such that poly(x) = 0. find_zero returns only only zero point, even if there are many. Moreover, find_zero only takes list xs having even number of coefficients and largest non zero coefficient as it guarantees a solution. >>> round(find_zero([1, 2]), 2) # f(x) = 1 + 2x -0.5 >>> round(find_zero([-6, 11, -6, 1]), 2) # (x - 1) * (x - 2) * (x - 3) = -6 + 11x - 6x^2 + x^3 1.0 """ # Use Newton-Raphson method to find a zero # First, find a suitable starting point and bounds # For a polynomial with odd degree (even number of coefficients), # there's guaranteed to be at least one real root # Use bisection method to find bounds, then Newton-Raphson # Find bounds where the polynomial changes sign lo, hi = -1.0, 1.0 # Expand bounds until we find a sign change while poly(xs, lo) * poly(xs, hi) > 0: lo *= 2 hi *= 2 # Bisection method for reliability while hi - lo > 1e-10: mid = (lo + hi) / 2.0 if poly(xs, mid) == 0: return mid if poly(xs, lo) * poly(xs, mid) < 0: hi = mid else: lo = mid return (lo + hi) / 2.0