@Carl Love 

That did the job! 

I really appreciate this approach .. very impressive.

Thanks again, Carl.

@dharr 

This is exactly whay I need .. thanks for sharing this impressive procedure! I'm grateful.

@mmcdara 

Thank you for your suggestion .. I appreciate the reply.

However, I did try that initially and it did not affect the solution. Perhaps it is (currently) not possible to return such a requirement.

Thanks again!

@Scot Gould 

Thanks for this, Scot. 

It is indeed useful to me. This is an interesting problem I am exploring and these insights provided are great to get.

@rcorless 

Thanks for the timely reply and guidance. I find your advice very beneficial and I'll explore this approach with interest!

@dharr 

Thanks for confirming this .. I'll continue exploring this problem using the routines you provided.

Thank you for this - it is most helpful and I have learned a lot in the process. 

Yes .. I should have stated that both a and b are non-integers. 

Do you think that it is possible to extract a general expression for the roots of f (or g) in terms of a and b?

In the meantime, I will use your model to explore the (real) numerical solutions.

Interesting ...  it seems that your adjustment has resolved the problem .. thank you!

I didn't think about the followup process -  your advice is appreciated.

Thanks for the timely response.

As regards the expected values ...

Parameter a will typically take the value 0.1 and the index, m, will vary from 0.1 to 10

I'll take a look at the commands you suggested - so that will be helpful.

I appreciate your help!

@Carl Love 

Thanks so much for taking an interest in this and for providing me exactly what I need!

@jganding 

That's exactly what I was looking for!

Thanks for the quick response and the advice - especially on the use of the printf command.

I'm very grateful ..

@mmcdara 

I agree. Following your response, I reviewed the references you recommended and they are very interesting indeed.

Once again .. thanks for your help.

@mmcdara 

I thank you for taking the time to resolve this and to introduce me to the resources.

Your procedure will give me a good start! 

Thanks again!

@Christopher2222 

I appreciate this advice ... I'll give it a shot when I return to terra firma.

Thanks again!

@tomleslie 

This is exactly what I was looking for.

Many thanks to you for sharing this and for the speedy response.