A new numerical approach for solving a class of singular two-point boundary value problems (Q2407861)

The authors propose an approximate method for the singular boundary value problem \[ \begin{aligned} (g(x)y')' & =g(x)f(x,y),\quad x\in (0,1],\\ y'(0) & =0,\,\,\mu y(1)+\sigma y'(1)=B, \end{aligned} \] where the coefficient functions \(g\) and \(f\) are assumed to satisfy a set of assumptions including \(g(0)=0\). The latter assumption makes \(x=0\) a singular point. First, to treat the singularity, the boundary value problem is reformulated into the form of an integral equation. Then, a successive approximation scheme based on the so-called optimal homotopy analysis method is presented. The approximate solution is obtained in the series form. Computation of an optimal convergence-control parameter involved in the recursive scheme is also discussed. Then, convergence analysis and an error estimate are also given. Finally, the authors present four numerical examples and a comparison of the method proposed in this paper with some other existing methods via maximum absolute errors shows the competitiveness of the present method.