ON OPTIMAL MULTIPOINT METHODS FOR SOLVING NONLINEAR EQUATIONS 1

A general class of three-point iterative methods for solving nonlinear equations is constructed. Its order of convergence reaches eight with only four function evaluations per iteration, which means that the proposed methods possess as high as possible computational e-ciency in the sense of the Kung-Traub hypothesis (1974). Numerical examples are included to demonstrate a spectacular convergence speed with only few function evaluations.