Saturday, August 1, 2026

Fixing the fourth order Runge-Kutta design equations


I used to be digging into the Runge-Kutta technique for fixing differential equations and a line from [1] piqued my curiosity.

These calculations, which aren’t reproduced in Kutta’s paper (they’re nonetheless in Huen (1900)), are very tedious.

The calculations are a set of eight constraints that the parameters of a fourth-order Runge-Kutta technique should fulfill. I puzzled how effectively Mathematica may need performed at aiding Mr. Huen in his “very tedious” calculations if it had been out there in 1900.

I’m going into Runge-Kutta strategies in this publish. Right here I’d like to focus on a step within the design of the strategies, specifically fixing the set of equations alluded within the quote above.

The very first thing to notice is that there are 10 variables and solely 8 equations, and so the answer just isn’t absolutely decided. What we consider as the fourth order Runge-Kutta technique is actually a fourth order Runge-Kutta technique.

One may argue that we should always have b2 = b3 and c2 = c3. With these further equations, the system of equations has a novel answer, and Mathematic finds it simply.

eqs = {
    b1 + b2 + b3 + b4 == 1,
    b2*c2 + b3*c3 + b4*c4 == 1/2,
    b2*c2^2 + b3*c3^2 + b4*c4^2 == 1/3,
    b3*a32*c2 + b4*(a42*c2 + a43*c3) == 1/6,
    b2*c2^3 + b3*c3^3 + b4*c4^3 == 1/4,
    b3*c3*a32*c2 + b4*c4*(a42*c2 + a43*c3) == 1/8,
    b3*a32*c2^2 + b4*(a42*c2^2 + a43*c3^2) == 1/12,
    b4*a43*a32*c2 == 1/24,
    b2 == b3,
    c2 == c3
};

vars = {b1, b2, b3, b4, c2, c3, c4, a32, a42, a43};

answer = Clear up[eqs, vars]

This returns the parameters used for the model of Runge-Kutta introduced in each textbook.

When you preserve the requirement b2 = b3 however substitute the requirement 2c2 = c3 for c‘s Mathematica will return the coefficients for the so-called Runge-Kutta 3/8 rule. This technique has some slight benefits by some standards.

In 1951 Gill [2] found a fourth order Runge-Kutta rule optimized for operating in extraordinarily constrained laptop {hardware}. It’s an odd technique, with irrational parameters, however one which was a really intelligent response to the restrictions of its time.

Associated posts

[1] Hairer, Nørsett, and Wanner. Fixing Bizarre Differential Equations I: Nonstiff Issues. Springer-Verlag 1987.

[2] A. Gill. A course of for the step-by-step integration of differential equations in an automated digital computing machine. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc., vol 27, pp 95–108.

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