On the local error and the local truncation error of linear multistep methods

Two different measures of the local accuracy of a linear multistep method — the local error and the local trunction error — appear in the literature. It is shown that the principal parts of these errors are not identical for general linear multistep methods, but that they are so for a sub-class which contains all methods of Adams type. It is sometimes argued that local error is the more natural measure; this view is challenged.