The working state of the five hundred-meter aperture spherical telescope (FAST) is solved using the step-wise assignment method. In this paper, the mathematical model of the cable-net support structure of the FAST is set up by the catenary equation. There are a large number of nonlinear equations and unknown parameters of the model. The nonlinear equations are solved by using the step-wise assignment method. The method is using the analytical solutions of the cable-net equations of one working state as the initial value for the next working state, from which the analytical solutions of the nonlinear equations of the cable-net for each working state of the FAST and the tension and length of each driving cable can be obtained. The suggested algorithm is quite practically well suited to study the working state of the cable-net structures of the FAST. Also, the working state analysis result of the cable-net support structure of a reduced model of the cable-net structure reflector for the FAST is given to verify the reliability of the method. In order to show the validity of the method, comparisons with another algorithm to set the initial value are presented. This method has an important guiding significance to the further study on the control of the new type of flexible cable driving mechanism, especially the FAST.