[someoneontenet]

Newtons Method approximates square roots. Its useful if you want to approximate something like that without pulling in the computational power required of NN.

[astrobe_]

I think the problem to solve is more like : given a set of inputs and outputs, find a function that gives the expected output for each input [1]. This is like Newton's method on a higher order ;-). One can find such a tool in Squeak or Pharo Smalltalk, IIRC.

[1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1539286/create-a-functio...

[jb1991]

By definition, that’s not a “universal“ function approximator.

[kristjansson]

Newton's method related to universal function approximation in the same way a natural oil seep is related to a modern IC engine...