Galerkin's method for ordinary differential equations subject to generalized nonlinear boundary conditions (Q1188230)

The author studies nonlinear boundary value problems of a special form subject to generalized nonlinear boundary conditions. His results provide an extension and a unification of previously known results on the determination of periodic solutions to systems of ordinary differential equations and with the solvability of ordinary differential equations subject to linear multipoint boundary conditions. The results obtained in the paper include the provision of an error bound between the solution of the boundary value problem and the solution of the Galerkin equations. The general theory proposed is illustrated using the finite-dimensional approximations generated through Legendre expansions. The generality of the procedure presented in the paper allows for greater flexibility in the choice of approximating subspaces and it sheds light on the underlying structure of the problem.