When solving calculations through simple iteration, the iteration process itself must be defined. These parameters are:
- Upper Limit. The maximum acceptable result.
- Lower Limit. The minimum acceptable result.
- Precision. The acceptable difference.
- Iterations. The maximum number of loops through the calculation.
- Guess. The starting value used in the first iteration.
These inputs become very important when trying to solve a calculation quickly. In the above example, if you had defined an upper limit of 4 and lower limit of 2 you would have determined the result using fewer iterations. An initial guess of 3 would have solved the calculation in a single iteration; and stopping after the third iteration would return a result of –2, which is incorrect.