Backward differentiation type formulas for Volterra integral equations of the second kind

Summary Numerical integration formulas are discussed which are obtained by differentiation of the Volterra integral equation and by applying backward differentiation formulas to the resulting integro-differential equation. In particular, the stability of the method is investigated for a class of convolution kernels. The accuracy and stability behaviour of the method proposed in this paper is compared with that of (i) a block-implicit Runge-Kutta scheme, and (ii) the scheme obtained by applying directly a quadrature rule which is reducible to the backward differentiation formulas. The present method is particularly advantageous in the case of stiff Volterra integral equations.