Some current questions on solving linear elliptic problems (Q920604)

The authors examine the standard 5-point difference approximations and other discretization of the Laplace and Poisson equations from the theoretical and philosophical standpoint, with special reference to their consistency, and the symmetry and positivity of the resulting matrices. A new ``point net'' approximation is constructed on ``elementary domains'' whose local truncation error to the classical Dirichlet problem is \(O(h^ 6)\) at strictly interior mesh points, and \(O(h^ 2)\) at mesh points adjacent to the boundary. The convection-diffusion equation is studied with special emphasis on new fast iterative methods for solving its difference approximations. A new analysis of the structure of the matrix representation of difference approximations reveals special features which can naturally be associated with diffusion and with convective processes.