# Find Root of a function generated by NDSolve

So I define a function

    fshoot[w_, f0_] := NDSolve[{-w^2 f[x] + Sin[f[x]] - 2 f'[x]/x - f''[x] ==0,
f[xmin] == f0, f'[xmin] == 2 f2[w, f0] xmin + 4 f4[w, f0] xmin^3 + 6 f6[w, f0] xmin^5},
f, {x, xmin, xmax}][[1]]


For each value of f0 and w I get a function f[x] as a solution. Now, I want to fix the value of f0 and find the value w which makes the function f[x] vanish at x=xmax, so I define

    froot[W_] := f[xmax]/.fshoot[W,f0];


Which is a function of W. Now I want to find the root of this function so I run

   FindRoot[froot[W], {W, .98}]


But the problem is that the NDSolve uses W as an unspecified number and so I don't get a numerical value for f[x] which then makes FindRoot unhappy because f[xmax] is not evaluated to a numeric value.

How can I modify my code so that it works?

• what aref2, f4 and f6? Without a minimal example that can be run, we cannot help you. Meanwhile, read WhenEvent information Nov 30 '17 at 13:49
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# Quick fix

Quick fix can be achieved just by restricting froot function to take only numerical values:

froot[W_?NumericQ] := f[xmax] /. fshoot[W, f0];


# Proper way

However, your shooting algorithm better use ParametricNDSolveValue function, particularly, its feature to return the value at some point. An example from help (note the second parameter f[10]):

pfun = ParametricNDSolveValue[{f''[t] + a f[t] == 0, f[0] == 1, f'[0] == 0},
f[10], {t, 0, 10}, {a}]

FindRoot[pfun[a], {a, 1}]


fshoot[f0_] := ParametricNDSolveValue[{-w^2 f[x] + Sin[f[x]] - 2 f'[x]/x - f''[x] == 0,