Matrix methods for computing eigenvalues of Sturm–Liouville problems of order four

Abstract

This paper examines and develops matrix methods to approximate the eigenvalues of a fourth order Sturm–Liouville problem subjected to a kind of fixed boundary conditions. Furthermore, it extends the matrix methods for a kind of general boundary conditions. The idea of the methods comes from finite difference and Numerov’s methods as well as boundary value methods for second order regular Sturm–Liouville problems. Moreover, the determination of the correction term formulas of the matrix methods is investigated in order to obtain better approximations of the problem with fixed boundary conditions since the exact eigenvalues for q=0 are known in this case. Finally, some numerical examples are illustrated.