Improbability of nonconvergent chaos in Newton's method (Q1096941)

The Newton iterative method for determining the zeros of a sufficiently regular real function f induces a discrete dynamical system. The Newton function \(N(x):=x-f(x)/f'(x)\) is associated with the iterative procedure \(x_{i+1}=N(x_ i)\) where \(x_ 0\) is an initial point. The author investigates the set D of those initial points for which the sequence \(\{x_ i\}\) is infinite and nonconvergent. He gives some conditions sufficient for the zero measure (Lebesgue) of D. The main result of the paper improves the results of the paper by \textit{D. Saari} and the author [Am. Math. Mon. 91, 3-17 (1984; Zbl 0532.58016)].