I need help on the 18-01 problems as well.

I tried using the Mathlet, but for some reason I can't get it to stop at value delta-x= -0.5. It keeps going to -0.7 and lower.

Question

I need help on the 18-01 problems as well.  

I tried using the Mathlet, but for some reason I can't get it to stop at value delta-x= -0.5.  It keeps going to -0.7 and lower.

anonymous · Answer

Are you talking about the first mathlet, for Secants and Tangents?

Problem 1?

If so, did you remember to use the dropdown menu in the lower left corner to select the function f(x) = 0.5x^3 - x first? I was having troubles getting delta x to land on .5 but then I realized that I'd skimmed over the couple paragraphs at the start of the assignment and had missed changing the function. Once I switched to the correct function, landing on -.5 was much easier.