numerical analysis secant method?

Question

I have to use the secant method to calculate an approximation value for
f(x)=0 where f(x)=exp(x) - 0.01 with an accuracy of 0.005 start with X0=4 & h=0.1 and only use the basic operations (+,-,*,/) in my calculation.the variable h helps me to find X1?how?

Answer 1

The formula for the secant method is

x_n+1 = x_n - f(x_n)(x_n - x_n-1)/[f(x_n)-f(x_n-1)].

It needs two starting iterates, which are, typically, chosen arbitrarily. You could choose X1 = X0 + h, for instance. However, there is no set rule for choosing X1. In fact, every presentation I've ever seen of the secant method has used two starting iterates x0 and x1, rather than a single iterate x0 and an h. Also, with this choice of f(x), you'd still have to perform exponentiation to evaluate f at each new iterate.

Answer 2

Is that even math??