No label defined (Q4028024)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0747.00037.] The authors describe the design of flexible software for numerical approximation to the solution of initial and two-point boundary value problems for systems of ordinary differential equations. The software has an algebraic processing component and a numerical processing component both of which are controlled by the author's SMALLTALK-80 interface. The input consists in the differential equations, initial-boundary conditions, and mesh length, written in an appropriate manner, and the output is in graphical form. By algebraic processing the problem is reduced to a first order system. The first order system is approximated at mesh points in the domain and boundary of the differential equation. The resulting algebraic system is solved by the Newton-Raphson method. Both the algebraic and numerical part of the procedure require external supporting programs. The authors use MAPLE and PRO-MATLAB software. The computational design is effective because the Jacobian matrix in the Newton-Raphson iteration is in a modified block diagonal form [cf. \textit{S. J. Wright} and \textit{V. Pereyra}, SIAM J. Sci. Stat. Comput. 11, 425-449 (1990; Zbl 0704.65013)]. The program is controlled by a menu which includes (i) change of the differential equations, (ii) change of the boundary conditions, (iii) defining a new problem, (iv) display of iterations, (v) display of a phase plot. The graphical displays use graphical tools from the SCENE software designed by the authors with S. S. Walther. Results of two test problems are presented. The program is being extended to include partial differential systems.