Computational and Applied Math Proseminar

Department of Mathematics, Arizona State University

Thursday, January 27, 2000, 12:30 p.m. in GWC Room 604

Jim Verner

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Ramifications of the Derivation of Explicit Runge-Kutta Methods

Abstract The derivation of order conditions for discrete variable methods which are used to solve initial value problems in ordinary differential equations has been studied by many authors. In particular, the study and application of rooted trees in this process by J.C. Butcher has simplfied this process. Fewer authors have been successful in solving the order conditions for moderate to high order methods althought Butcher has developed a number of elegant approaches for this purpose. By adding other techniques to these, I have been able to classify and derive parametric families of high order explicit Runge--Kutta methods and pairs.

These techniques have been generalized to obtain continuous explicit Runge--Kutta methods, Bel'tyukov methods for Volterra integral equations and formulas for estimating global error in explicit Runge-Kutta methods. In this talk I shall survey some of these approaches, and indicate an advantage of interpreting the Dormand-Prince approach to global error estimation as a general linear method.

For further information please contact: mittelmann@asu.edu