Abstract: | In this article we develop a finite‐difference scheme to approximate radially symmetric solutions of a dissipative nonlinear modified Klein‐Gordon equation subject to smooth initial conditions ? and ψ in an open sphere D around the origin, with constant internal and external damping coefficients—β and γ, respectively—, and nonlinear term of the form G′(w) = wp, with p > 1 an odd number. The functions ? and ψ are radially symmetric in D, and ?, ψ, r?, and rψ are assumed to be small at infinity. We prove that our scheme is consistent order ??(Δt2) + ??(Δr2) for G′ identically equal to zero and provide a necessary condition for it to be stable order n. Part of our study will be devoted to compare the physical effects of β and γ. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2005 |