Monotonieeigenschaften des Steffensen-Verfahrens

Steffensen's method is slightly generalized by introducing a real parameter. In this way one can get different monotonicity properties, depending on the choice of this parameter. These monotonicity statements give the possibility of bracketing the solution of a given problem. In a special case they even ensure the convergence and the existence of a solution. Furthermore there are given sufficient conditions, which show that Steffensen's method converges at least as quickly as Newton's method. A numerical example shows the efficiency of the theorems and compares Steffensen's and Newton's method.

     

Integral operators with Green's function type kernel

A variant of the Nyström method based on Simpson's rule is presented. This is designed to deal with integral operators with kernels k(s, t) that are not continuous along the diagonal s = t. A complete analysis is carried out, generalizations for other interpolatory quadrature rules are proposed; also a variant using Gaussian quadrature is considered and examples are given.     

On admissible constellations of consecutive primes

Admissible constellations of primes are patterns which, like the twin primes, no simple divisibility relation would prevent from being repeated indefinitely in the series of primes. All admissible constellations, formed ofconsecutive primes, beginning with a prime <1000, are established, and some properties of such constellations in general are conjectured.Dedicated to Peter Naur on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

A computer program system for kinetic analysis of non-isothermal thermogravimetric data: I. Data acquisition and preparation for kinetic analysis

FORTRAN software is described which enables the generation of rate of weight change data (DTG) from percentage weight change measurements (TG), obtained under non-isothermal conditions. The program also transposes this information into the dimensionless extent and rate of reaction at unit temperature intervals by means of a cubic spline interpolation. A simple search routine identifies all DTG spikes in the thermogravimetric record, and the temperature and extent of reaction at which the rate attains its maximum value. This total information serves as input data for the kinetic analysis software to be discussed in part II of this communication. An example of the application of this program to the pyrolysis of bituminous coal is presented.     

Multipoint Padé-Type Approximants. Exact Rate of Convergence

We study the rate with which sequences of interpolating rational functions, whose poles are partially fixed, approximate Markov-type analytic functions. Applications to interpolating quadratures are given. January 25, 1996. Date revised: December 26, 1996.     

Minimal and reduced pairs of convex bodies

We give a new proof for the existence and uniqueness (up to translation) of plane minimal pairs of convex bodies in a given equivalence class of the Hörmander-R»dström lattice, as well as a complete characterization of plane minimal pairs using surface area measures. Moreover, we introduce the so-called reduced pairs, which are special minimal pairs. For the plane case, we characterize reduced pairs as those pairs of convex bodies whose surface area measures are mutually singular. For higher dimensions, we give two sufficient conditions for the minimality of a pair of convex polytopes, as well as a necessary and sufficient criterion for a pair of convex polytopes to be reduced. We conclude by showing that a typical pair of convex bodies, in the sense of Baire category, is reduced, and hence the unique minimal pair in its equivalence class.     

Two improved algorithms for envelope and wavefront reduction

Two algorithms for reordering sparse, symmetric matrices or undirected graphs to reduce envelope and wavefront are considered. The first is a combinatorial algorithm introduced by Sloan and further developed by Duff, Reid, and Scott; we describe enhancements to the Sloan algorithm that improve its quality and reduce its run time. Our test problems fall into two classes with differing asymptotic behavior of their envelope parameters as a function of the weights in the Sloan algorithm. We describe an efficientO(nlogn+m) time implementation of the Sloan algorithm, wheren is the number of rows (vertices), andm is the number of nonzeros (edges). On a collection of test problems, the improved Sloan algorithm required, on the average, only twice the time required by the simpler RCM algorithm while improving the mean square wavefront by a factor of three. The second algorithm is a hybrid that combines a spectral algorithm for envelope and wavefront reduction with a refinement step that uses a modified Sloan algorithm. The hybrid algorithm reduces the envelope size and mean square wavefront obtained from the Sloan algorithm at the cost of greater running times. We illustrate how these reductions translate into tangible benefits for frontal Cholesky factorization and incomplete factorization preconditioning. This work was partially supported by the U. S. National Science Foundation grants CCR-9412698, DMS-9505110, and ECS-9527169, by U. S. Department of Energy grant DE-FG05-94ER25216, and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under NASA Contract NAS1-19480 while the second author was in residence at the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE), NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA.