On the order of deferred correction

New deferred correction methods for the numerical solution of initial value problems in ordinary differential equations have recently been introduced by Dutt, Greengard and Rokhlin. A convergence proof is presented for these methods, based on the abstract Stetter-Lindberg-Skeel framework and Spijker-type norms. It is shown that p corrections of an order-r one-step solver yield order-r(p+1) accuracy.     

Nordsieck methods with computationally verified algebraic stability

We describe the search for algebraically stable Nordsieck methods of order p = s and stage order q = p, where s is the number of stages. This search is based on the theoretical criteria for algebraic stability proposed recently by Hill, and Hewitt and Hill, for general linear methods for ordinary differential equations. These criteria, which are expressed in terms of the non-negativity of the eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix on the unit circle, are then verified computationally for the derived Nordsieck methods of order p ? 2.     

Convergence and stability of extended block boundary value methods for Volterra delay integro-differential equations

In this paper, we construct a class of extended block boundary value methods (B₂VMs) for Volterra delay integro-differential equations and analyze the convergence and stability of the methods. It is proven under the classical Lipschitz condition that an extended B₂VM is convergent of order p if the underlying boundary value methods (BVM) has consistent order p. The analysis shows that a B₂VM extended by an A-stable BVM can preserve the delay-independent stability of the underlying linear systems. Moreover, under some suitable conditions, the extended B₂VMs can also keep the delay-dependent stability of the underlying linear systems. In the end, we test the computational effectiveness by applying the introduced methods to the Volterra delay dynamical model of two interacting species, where the theoretical precision of the methods is further verified.     

Zero-finder methods derived from Obreshkov’s techniques

In this paper two families of zero-finding iterative methods for solving nonlinear equations f(x)=0 are presented. The key idea to derive them is to solve an initial value problem applying Obreshkov-like techniques. More explicitly, Obreshkov’s methods have been used to numerically solve an initial value problem that involves the inverse of the function f that defines the equation. Carrying out this procedure, several methods with different orders of local convergence have been obtained. An analysis of the efficiency of these methods is given. Finally we introduce the concept of extrapolated computational order of convergence with the aim of numerically test the given methods. A procedure for the implementation of an iterative method with an adaptive multi-precision arithmetic is also presented.     

Explicit Nordsieck methods with extended stability regions

We describe the construction of explicit Nordsieck methods of order p and stage order q = p with large regions of absolute stability. We also discuss error propagation and estimation of local discretization errors. The error estimators are derived for examples of general linear methods constructed in this paper. Some numerical experiments are presented which illustrate the effectiveness of proposed methods.     

Explicit Runge–Kutta pairs with lower stage-order

Explicit Runge–Kutta pairs of methods of successive orders of accuracy provide effective algorithms for approximating solutions to nonstiff initial value problems. For each explicit RK method of order of accuracy p, there is a minimum number s _p of derivative evaluations required for each step propagating the numerical solution. For p ≤ 8, Butcher has established exact values of s _p , and for p > 8, his work establishes lower bounds; otherwise, upper bounds are established by various published methods. Recently, Khashin has derived some new methods numerically, and shown that the known upper bound on s ₉ for methods of order p = 9 can be reduced from 15 to 13. His results motivate this attempt to identify parametrically exact representations for coefficients of such methods. New pairs of methods of orders 5,6 and 6,7 are characterized in terms of several arbitrary parameters. This approach, modified from an earlier one, increases the known spectrum of types of RK pairs and their derivations, may lead to the derivation of new RK pairs of higher-order, and possibly to other types of explicit algorithms within the class of general linear methods.     

Analysis and application of finite volume element methods to a class of partial differential equations

The finite volume element (FVE) methods for a class of partial differential equations are discussed and analyzed in this paper. The new initial values are introduced in the finite volume element schemes, and we obtain optimal error estimates in Lp and W1,p (2?p?∞) as well as some superconvergence estimates in W1,p (2?p?∞). The main results in this paper perfect the theory of the finite volume element methods.     

General linear methods for Volterra integral equations

We investigate the class of general linear methods of order p and stage order q=p for the numerical solution of Volterra integral equations of the second kind. Construction of highly stable methods based on the Schur criterion is described and examples of methods of order one and two which have good stability properties with respect to the basic test equation and the convolution one are given.     

New modifications of Potra-Pták’s method with optimal fourth and eighth orders of convergence

In this paper, we present two new iterative methods for solving nonlinear equations by using suitable Taylor and divided difference approximations. Both methods are obtained by modifying Potra-Pták’s method trying to get optimal order. We prove that the new methods reach orders of convergence four and eight with three and four functional evaluations, respectively. So, Kung and Traub’s conjecture Kung and Traub (1974) [2], that establishes for an iterative method based on n evaluations an optimal order p=2ⁿ⁻¹ is fulfilled, getting the highest efficiency indices for orders p=4 and p=8, which are 1.587 and 1.682.We also perform different numerical tests that confirm the theoretical results and allow us to compare these methods with Potra-Pták’s method from which they have been derived, and with other recently published eighth-order methods.     

A numerical comparison of Chebyshev methods for solving fourth order semilinear initial boundary value problems

In solving semilinear initial boundary value problems with prescribed non-periodic boundary conditions using implicit-explicit and implicit time stepping schemes, both the function and derivatives of the function may need to be computed accurately at each time step. To determine the best Chebyshev collocation method to do this, the accuracy of the real space Chebyshev differentiation, spectral space preconditioned Chebyshev tau, real space Chebyshev integration and spectral space Chebyshev integration methods are compared in the L² and W^2,2 norms when solving linear fourth order boundary value problems; and in the L^∞([0,T];L²) and L^∞([0,T];W^2,2) norms when solving initial boundary value problems. We find that the best Chebyshev method to use for high resolution computations of solutions to initial boundary value problems is the spectral space Chebyshev integration method which uses sparse matrix operations and has a computational cost comparable to Fourier spectral discretization.     

A family of explicit parallel Runge-Kutta-Nyström methods

A procedure for the construction of high-order explicit parallel Runge-Kutta-Nyström (RKN) methods for solving second-order nonstiff initial value problems (IVPs) is analyzed. The analysis reveals that starting the procedure with a reference symmetric RKN method it is possible to construct high-order RKN schemes which can be implemented in parallel on a small number of processors. These schemes are defined by means of a convex combination of k disjoint s_i-stage explicit RKN methods which are constructed by connecting s_i steps of a reference explicit symmetric method. Based on the reference second-order Störmer-Verlet methods we derive a family of high-order explicit parallel schemes which can be implemented in variable-step codes without additional cost. The numerical experiments carried out show that the new parallel schemes are more efficient than some sequential and parallel codes proposed in the scientific literature for solving second-order nonstiff IVPs.     

Families of methods for ordinary differential equations based on trigonometric polynomials

We consider the construction of methods based on trigonometric polynomials for the initial value problems whose solutions are known to be periodic. It is assumed that the frequency w can be estimated in advance. The resulting methods depend on a parameter ν = hw, where h is the step size, and reduce to classical multistep methods if ν → 0. Gautschi [4] developed Adams and Störmer type methods. In our paper we construct Nyström's and Milne-Simpson's type methods. Numerical experiments show that these methods are not sensitive to changes in w, but require the Jacobian matrix to have purely imaginary eigenvalues.     

A new approach to numerical solution of fixed-point problems and its application to delay differential equations

In this paper we consider a certain approximation of fixed-points of a continuous operator A mapping the metric space into itself by means of finite dimensional ε(h)-fixed-points of A. These finite dimensional functions are obtained from functions defined on discrete space grid points (related to a parameter h→0) by applying suitably chosen extension operators p_h. A theorem specifying necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of fixed-points of A in terms of ε(h)-fixed-points of A is given. A corollary which follows the theorem yields an approximate method for a fixed-point problem and determines conditions for its convergence. An example of application of the obtained general results to numerical solving of boundary value problems for delay differential equations is provided.Numerical experiments carried out on three examples of boundary value problems for second order delay differential equations show that the proposed approach produces much more accurate results than many other numerical methods when applied to the same examples.     

Compact block boundary value methods for semi-linear delay-reaction–diffusion equations with algebraic constraints

In the present paper, we study a class of linear approximation methods for solving semi-linear delay-reaction–diffusion equations with algebraic constraint (SDEACs). By combining a fourth-order compact difference scheme with block boundary value methods (BBVMs), a class of compact block boundary value methods (CBBVMs) for SDEACs are suggested. It is proved under some suitable conditions that the CBBVMs are convergent of order 4 in space and order p in time, where p is the local order of the used BBVMs, and are globally stable. With several numerical experiments for Fisher equation with delay and algebraic constraint, the computational effectiveness and theoretical results of CBBVMs are further illustrated.     

A new class of efficient one-step contractivity preserving high-order time discretization methods of order 5 to 14

A family of one-step, explicit, contractivity preserving, multi-stage, multi-derivative, Hermite–Birkhoff–Taylor methods of order p =?5,6,…,14, that we denote by CPHBT_RK4(d,s,p), with nonnegative coefficients are constructed by casting s-stage Runge–Kutta methods of order 4 with Taylor methods of order d. The constructed CPHBT_RK4 methods are implemented using efficient variable step control and are compared to other well-known methods on a variety of initial value problems. A selected method: CP 6-stages 9-derivative HBT method of order 12, denoted by CPHBTRK412, has larger region of absolute stability than Dormand–Prince DP(8,7)13M and Taylor method T(12) of order 12. It is superior to DP(8,7)13M and T(12) methods on the basis the number of steps, CPU time, and maximum global error on several problems often used to test higher-order ODE solvers. Also, we show that the contractivity preserving property of CPHBTRK412is very efficient in suppressing the effect of the propagation of discretization errors and the new method compares positively with explicit 17 stages Runge-Kutta-Nyström pair of order 12 by Sharp et al. on a long-term integration of a standard N-body problem. The selected CPHBTRK412is listed in the Appendix.     

Primitive roots in quadratic fields, II

We consider an analogue of Artin's primitive root conjecture for algebraic numbers which are not units in quadratic fields. Given such an algebraic number α, for a rational prime p which is inert in the field, the maximal possible order of α modulo (p) is p²−1. An extension of Artin's conjecture is that there are infinitely many such inert primes for which this order is maximal. We show that for any choice of 113 algebraic numbers satisfying a certain simple restriction, at least one of the algebraic numbers has order at least for infinitely many inert primes p.     

Obrechkoff methods having additional parameters for general second-order differential equations

A class of two-step implicit methods involving higher-order derivatives of y for initial value problems of the form y″ = f(t, y, y′) is developed. The methods involve arbitrary parameters p and q, which are determined so that the methods become absolutely stable when applied to the test equation y″ + λy′ + μy = 0. Numerical results for Bessel's and general second-order differential equations are presented to illustrate that the methods are absolutely stable and are of order O(h⁴), O(h⁶) and O(h⁸).     

The improved linear multistep methods for differential equations with piecewise continuous arguments

This paper deals with the convergence of the linear multistep methods for the equation x′(t) = ax(t) + a₀x([t]). Numerical experiments demonstrate that the 2-step Adams-Bashforth method is only of order p = 0 when applied to the given equation. An improved linear multistep methods is constructed. It is proved that these methods preserve their original convergence order for ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and some numerical experiments are given.     

Stability analysis of block boundary value methods for neutral pantograph equation

This paper deals with the convergence and stability properties of block boundary value methods (BBVMs) for the neutral pantograph equation. Due to its unbounded time lags and limited computer memory, a change in the independent variable is used to transform a pantograph equation into a non-autonomous differential equation with a constant delay but variable coefficients. It is shown under the classical Lipschitz condition that a BBVM is convergent of order p if the underlying boundary value method is consistent with order p. Furthermore, it is proved under a certain condition that BBVMs can preserve the asymptotic stability of exact solutions for the neutral pantograph equation. Meanwhile, some numerical experiments are given to confirm the main conclusions.