[Kstars-devel] Predicting conjunctions

[Akarsh Simha]

Hi,

> 1) function for calculating position of planet (already in KStars)
> 2) function which returns distance of two planets
> double getDistance(double time)
> 3) calculate minimum of this function for given time (thats conjunction)

Hmmm...

> You can use interval division to find minimum...

I am rather unfamiliar with numerical methods. (Googling didn't
help). How does this work? Can it find the global and local minima on
a given interval?

Essentially I was looking for some _fast_ way to find the minimum
separation of a function that I can compute but cannot express
algebraically.

My trouble is in getting the seed point. How do I find out where to
start, i.e. get a first approximation to the time of conjunction?

Regards
Akarsh.

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