Introduction and a short historical overview

Abstract

One of the important fields of application for modern computers is the numerical solution of diverse problems arising in science, engineering, industry, etc. Here, mathematical models have to be solved which describe e.g. natural phenomena, industrial processes, nonlinear vibrations, nonlinear mechanical structures or phenomena in hydrodynamics and biophysics. A lot of such mathematical models can be formulated as initial value problems (IVPs) or boundary value problems (BVPs) for systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). However, it is not possible in general to determine the solution of nonlinear problems in a closed form. Therefore the exact solution must be approximated by numerical techniques.