This is only peripherally a Python problem, but in case anyone has any
good ideas I'm going to ask it.
I have a routine to calculate an approximation of Lambert's W function,
and then apply a root-finding technique to improve the approximation.
This mostly works well, but sometimes the root-finder gets stuck in a
cycle.
Here's my function:
import math
def improve(x, w, exp=math.exp):
"""Use Halley's method to improve an estimate of W(x) given
an initial estimate w.
"""
try:
for i in range(36): # Max number of iterations.
ew = exp(w)
a = w*ew - x
b = ew*(w + 1)
err = -a/b # Estimate of the error in the current w.
if abs(err) <= 1e-16:
break
print '%d: w= %r err= %r' % (i, w, err)
# Make a better estimate.
c = (w + 2)*a/(2*w + 2)
delta = a/(b - c)
w -= delta
else:
raise RuntimeError('calculation failed to converge', err)
except ZeroDivisionError:
assert w == -1
return w
Here's an example where improve() converges very quickly:
py> improve(-0.36, -1.222769842388856)
0: w= -1.222769842388856 err= -2.9158979924038895e-07
1: w= -1.2227701339785069 err= 8.4638038491998997e-16
-1.222770133978506
That's what I expect: convergence in only a few iterations.
Here's an example where it gets stuck in a cycle, bouncing back and forth
between two values:
py> improve(-0.36787344117144249, -1.0057222396915309)
0: w= -1.0057222396915309 err= 2.6521238905750239e-14
1: w= -1.0057222396915044 err= -2.6521238905872001e-14
2: w= -1.0057222396915309 err= 2.6521238905750239e-14
3: w= -1.0057222396915044 err= -2.6521238905872001e-14
4: w= -1.0057222396915309 err= 2.6521238905750239e-14
5: w= -1.0057222396915044 err= -2.6521238905872001e-14
[...]
32: w= -1.0057222396915309 err= 2.6521238905750239e-14
33: w= -1.0057222396915044 err= -2.6521238905872001e-14
34: w= -1.0057222396915309 err= 2.6521238905750239e-14
35: w= -1.0057222396915044 err= -2.6521238905872001e-14
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "<stdin>", line 19, in improve
RuntimeError: ('calculation failed to converge', -2.6521238905872001e-14)
(The correct value for w is approximately -1.00572223991.)
I know that Newton's method is subject to cycles, but I haven't found any
discussion about Halley's method and cycles, nor do I know what the best
approach for breaking them would be. None of the papers on calculating
the Lambert W function that I have found mentions this.
Does anyone have any advice for solving this?
--
Steven
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