Convergence of a Finite-Difference Scheme for Second-Order Hyperbolic Equations with Variable Coefficients

We study the convergence of a finite-difference scheme for thefirst initial-boundary-value problem for linear second-orderhyperbolic equations with variable coefficients. Using the bilinearversion of the Bramble-Hilbert lemma we prove that the convergencerate in the discrete energy norm is of the order h^–2 ifthe exact solution belongs to the Sobolev space W₂(Q) with 2<<4.