Oscillation Properties of Some Functional Fourth Order Ordinary Differential Equations

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 34A30, 34A40, 34C10.

Supersymmetry and Ghosts in Quantum Mechanics

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 81Q60, 35Q40.

On Finite Element Methods for 2nd order (semi–) periodic Eigenvalue Problems

We deal with a class of elliptic eigenvalue problems (EVPs) on a rectangle Ω ⊂ R^2 , with periodic or semi–periodic boundary conditions (BCs) on ∂Ω. First, for both types of EVPs, we pass to a proper variational formulation which is shown to fit into the general framework of abstract EVPs for symmetric, bounded, strongly coercive bilinear forms in Hilbert spaces, see, e.g., [13, §6.2]. Next, we consider finite element methods (FEMs) without and with numerical quadrature. The aim of the paper is to show that well–known error estimates, established for the finite element approximation of elliptic EVPs with classical BCs, hold for the present types of EVPs too. Some attention is also paid to the computational aspects of the resulting algebraic EVP. Finally, the analysis is illustrated by two non-trivial numerical examples, the exact eigenpairs of which can be determined.

A Note on the “Constructing” of Nonstationary Methods for Solving Nonlinear Equations with Raised Speed of Convergence

This paper is partially supported by project ISM-4 of Department for Scientific Research, “Paisii Hilendarski” University of Plovdiv.

On the Various Bisection Methods Derived from Vincent’s Theorem

In 2000 A. Alesina and M. Galuzzi presented Vincent’s theorem “from a modern point of view” along with two new bisection methods derived from it, B and C. Their profound understanding of Vincent’s theorem is responsible for simplicity — the characteristic property of these two methods. In this paper we compare the performance of these two new bisection methods — i.e. the time they take, as well as the number of intervals they examine in order to isolate the real roots of polynomials — against that of the well-known Vincent-Collins-Akritas method, which is the first bisection method derived from Vincent’s theorem back in 1976. Experimental results indicate that REL, the fastest implementation of the Vincent-Collins-Akritas method, is still the fastest of the three bisection methods, but the number of intervals it examines is almost the same as that of B. Therefore, further research on speeding up B while preserving its simplicity looks promising.

Approximation Classes for Adaptive Methods

* This work has been supported by the Office of Naval Research Contract Nr. N0014-91-J1343, the Army Research Office Contract Nr. DAAD 19-02-1-0028, the National Science Foundation grants DMS-0221642 and DMS-0200665, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft grant SFB 401, the IHP Network “Breaking Complexity” funded by the European Commission and the Alexan- der von Humboldt Foundation.

Methods for Solving Necessary Equivalences

Nonmonotonic Logics such as Autoepistemic Logic, Reflective Logic, and Default Logic, are usually defined in terms of set-theoretic fixed-point equations defined over deductively closed sets of sentences of First Order Logic. Such systems may also be represented as necessary equivalences in a Modal Logic stronger than S5 with the added advantage that such representations may be generalized to allow quantified variables crossing modal scopes resulting in a Quantified Autoepistemic Logic, a Quantified Autoepistemic Kernel, a Quantified Reflective Logic, and a Quantified Default Logic. Quantifiers in all these generalizations obey all the normal laws of logic including both the Barcan formula and its converse. Herein, we address the problem of solving some necessary equivalences containing universal quantifiers over modal scopes. Solutions obtained by these methods are then compared to related results obtained in the literature by Circumscription in Second Order Logic since the disjunction of all the solutions of a necessary equivalence containing just normal defaults in these Quantified Logics, is equivalent to that system.

Three New Methods for Computing Subresultant Polynomial Remainder Sequences (PRS’S)

Given the polynomials f, g ∈ Z[x] of degrees n, m, respectively, with n > m, three new, and easy to understand methods — along with the more efficient variants of the last two of them — are presented for the computation of their subresultant polynomial remainder sequence (prs). All three methods evaluate a single determinant (subresultant) of an appropriate sub-matrix of sylvester1, Sylvester’s widely known and used matrix of 1840 of dimension (m + n) × (m + n), in order to compute the correct sign of each polynomial in the sequence and — except for the second method — to force its coefficients to become subresultants. Of interest is the fact that only the first method uses pseudo remainders. The second method uses regular remainders and performs operations in Q[x], whereas the third one triangularizes sylvester2, Sylvester’s little known and hardly ever used matrix of 1853 of dimension 2n × 2n. All methods mentioned in this paper (along with their supporting functions) have been implemented in Sympy and can be downloaded from the link http://inf-server.inf.uth.gr/~akritas/publications/subresultants.py

Steffensen Methods for Solving Generalized Equations

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 65G99, 65K10, 47H04.