Runge-Kutta methods for quadratic ordinary differential equations (Q1267024)

The numerical solution of quadratic ordinary differential equations \(y'=f(y)\) and \(y''=f(y)\) is considered. Since the third and higher order derivatives of \(f(y)\) vanish identically, the construction of Runge-Kutta and Runge-Kutta-Nyström methods is simplified (certain order conditions need not be considered). Compared to standard methods for general \(f(y)\), it is possible to get the same order of convergence with fewer function evaluations or with a smaller error constant. A systematic study of such improvements is the subject of this paper. The authors present new optimal methods, and they illustrate their good behaviour at some interesting problems.