On the multi-level splitting of finite element spaces (Q1085960)

This paper is concerned with the condition number of the discretization matrix when solving second order elliptic problems in the plane. It is shown that the condition number is much better for hierarchical bases than for the more common nodal bases. When a preconditioned conjugate gradient method is applied for the solution, this results in almost optimal operation counts, similarly as for multi-level methods. The results are demonstrated on some numerical examples.