An approximate solution for linear boundary-value problems with slowly varying coefficients

In this paper, an approximate closed-form solution for linear boundary-value problems with slowly varying coefficient matrices is obtained. The derivation of the approximate solution is based on the freezing technique, which is commonly used in analyzing the stability of slowly varying initial-value problems as well as solving them. The error between the approximate and the exact solutions is given, and an upper bound on the norm of the error is obtained. This upper bound is proportional to the rate of change of the coefficient matrix of the boundary-value problem. The proposed approximate solution is obtained for a two-point boundary-value problem and is compared to its solution obtained numerically. Good agreement is observed between the approximate and the numerical solutions, when the rate of change of the coefficient matrix is small.