Newton's Method in R Precision/Output - r

Question

So, I'm supposed to write the code to execute Newton's Method to calculate the square root of any arbitrary number to a specified precision (tolerance).
Here is my code:
MySqrt <- function(x, eps = 1e-6, itmax = 100, verbose = TRUE) {
GUESS <- 11
myvector <- integer(0)
i <- 1
if (x < 0) {
stop("Square root of negative value")
}
else {
myvector[i] <- GUESS
while (i <= itmax) {
GUESS <- (GUESS + (x/GUESS)) * 0.5
myvector[i+1] <- GUESS
if (abs(GUESS-myvector[i]) < eps) {
break()
}
if (verbose) {
cat("Iteration: ", formatC(i, width = 1), formatC(GUESS, digits = 10, width = 12), "\n")
}
i <- i + 1
}
}
myvector[i]
}
eps is the tolerance. When I use the function to calculate the square root of, say, 21, I got this as an output:
> MySqrt(21, eps = 1e-1, verbose = TRUE)
Iteration: 1 6.454545455
Iteration: 2 4.854033291
Iteration: 3 4.59016621
I'm not sure if the function stops carrying out iterations when it is supposed to, however. Can someone verify if my code is correct? This would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Your code is almost correct. It is iterating the correct number of times. The only bug is that you don't increment i until after the break statement, so you are not returning the most recent approximation. Instead you are returning the previous one.
In order to verify that it is stopping at the right time, you can move the tracing line up above the break. You can also add GUESS-myvector[i] to the trace, so you can watch it halt as soon as the difference gets small enough. If you do this and run the function, the fact that it is stopping at the right time, as well as the fact that it is returning the wrong value, will be obvious:
> MySqrt(21,eps=1e-1)
Iteration: 1 6.454545 -4.545455
Iteration: 2 4.854033 -1.600512
Iteration: 3 4.590166 -0.2638671
Iteration: 4 4.582582 -0.007584239
[1] 4.590166
While your code is (almost) correct, it is not written in very good R style. For example, unless you want to return the entire vector of estimates, there is no reason that you need to keep them all around. Also, rather than using a while loop, here it would make more sense to use a for loop. Here one possible improved version of your function:
MySqrt <- function(x, eps = 1e-6, itmax = 100, verbose = TRUE) {
GUESS <- 11
if (x < 0) {
stop("Square root of negative value")
}
for(i in 1:itmax){
nextGUESS <- (GUESS + (x/GUESS)) * 0.5
if (verbose)
cat("Iteration: ", i, nextGUESS, nextGUESS-GUESS, "\n")
if (abs(GUESS-nextGUESS) < eps)
break
GUESS<- nextGUESS
}
nextGUESS
}