Superconvergence of numerical solutions to weakly singular Volterra integro-differential equations

Summary We discuss the application of a class of spline collocation methods to first-order Volterra integro-differential equations (VIDEs) which contain a weakly singular kernel (t–s)^– with 0<<1. It will be shown that superconvergence properties may be obtained by using appropriate collocation parameters and graded meshes. The grading exponents of graded meshes used are not greater thanm (the polynomial degree) which is independent of . This is in contrast to the theories of spline collocation methods for Volterra (or Fredholm) integral equation of the second kind. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results.