Numerical methods for solving ODEs on the infinity computer

Abstract

New algorithms for the numerical solution of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) with initial conditions are proposed. They are designed for working on a new kind of a supercomputer – the Infinity Computer – that is able to deal numerically with finite, infinite and infinitesimal numbers. Due to this fact, the Infinity Computer allows one to calculate the exact derivatives of functions using infinitesimal values of the stepsize. As a consequence, the new methods are able to work with the exact values of the derivatives, instead of their approximations. Within this context, variants of one-step multi-point methods closely related to the classical Taylor formulae and to the Obrechkoff methods are considered. To get numerical evidence of the theoretical results, test problems are solved by means of the new methods and the results compared with the performance of classical methods.