One-step collocation for delay differential equations (Q793500)

This paper deals with the one-step collocation method for the problem \(y'(t)=f(t,y(t),\quad y(t-\alpha(t))), t_ 0\leq t\leq x,0\leq \alpha(t)\leq r\), \(y(t_ 0)=y_ 0\), \(y(t)=\phi(t)\), \(t_ 0-r\leq t\leq t_ 0\) with continuous piecewise polynomial functions of degree \(n\geq 1\) and collocation points at the zeros of the n-Legendre orthogonal polynomial relative to each subinterval between two consecutive nodes of the mesh \(\Delta =(t_ 0,...,t_ n=x)\). The results on convergence and superconvergence are proved for appropriate choices of the mesh \(\Delta\) and f smooth enough. The global error is \(O(| \Delta |^{n+1})\) and the error at the nodes of the mesh is \(O(| \Delta |^{2n})\) provided the mesh and f are such that the solution belongs to \(c_{\Delta}^{2n+1} (i.e.f\in c^{2n}[t_{i-1},t_ i]\), \(i=1,...,N)\). Two numerical examples are given for constant and variable delays.