Recognizing the symmetry type of O. D. E. s (Q5951559)

An algorithm is presented to determine the symmetry type for explicit ordinary differential equations of order \(\geq 2\). On the algebraic background of polynomial differential rings with coefficients as formal power series, Gröbner base tools etc., the first step is to compute the defining equations and then, following the method of \textit{G. J. Reid}, \textit{I. G. Lisle}, \textit{A. Boulton} and \textit{A. D. Wittkopf} [P. S. Wang (ed.), International Symposium on symbolic and algebraic computation 92. ISSAC 92. Berkely, CA, USA, July 27-29, 1992 (ACM Press, Baltimore, MD), 63-68 (1992; Zbl 0978.65514)], the algebraic type of the symmetry algebra \(g\). The same computations allow one to determine the isotropy subalgebra \(h\) of \(g\), consisting of all generators from \(g\) which vanish in the origin, and to check the condition \(\text{codim }h=2\), which characterizes the case of transitive Lie algebras. The possible effective cases of pairs \((g,h)\) are then discussed on the base of Lie's list. Some examples with MAPLE sessions and GAP code are given.