Comparative Study of Homotopy Analysis and Renormalization Group Methods on Rayleigh and Van der Pol Equations

A comparative study of the Homotopy Analysis method and an improved Renormalization Group method is presented in the context of the Rayleigh and the Van der Pol equations. Efficient approximate formulae as functions of the nonlinearity parameter $\varepsilon$ for the amplitudes $a(\varepsilon)$ of the limit cycles for both these oscillators are derived. The improvement in the Renormalization group analysis is achieved by invoking the idea of nonlinear time that should have significance in a nonlinear system. Good approximate plots of limit cycles of the concerned oscillators are also presented within this framework.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures. Revised and upgraded: Differ Equ Dyn Syst, (26 July, 2015

Symbolic-numeric interface: A review

A survey of the use of a combination of symbolic and numerical calculations is presented. Symbolic calculations primarily refer to the computer processing of procedures from classical algebra, analysis, and calculus. Numerical calculations refer to both numerical mathematics research and scientific computation. This survey is intended to point out a large number of problem areas where a cooperation of symbolic and numerical methods is likely to bear many fruits. These areas include such classical operations as differentiation and integration, such diverse activities as function approximations and qualitative analysis, and such contemporary topics as finite element calculations and computation complexity. It is contended that other less obvious topics such as the fast Fourier transform, linear algebra, nonlinear analysis and error analysis would also benefit from a synergistic approach

Algorithms for Mappings and Symmetries of Differential Equations

Differential Equations are used to mathematically express the laws of physics and models in biology, finance, and many other fields. Examining the solutions of related differential equation systems helps to gain insights into the phenomena described by the differential equations. However, finding exact solutions of differential equations can be extremely difficult and is often impossible. A common approach to addressing this problem is to analyze solutions of differential equations by using their symmetries. In this thesis, we develop algorithms based on analyzing infinitesimal symmetry features of differential equations to determine the existence of invertible mappings of less tractable systems of differential equations (e.g., nonlinear) into more tractable systems of differential equations (e.g., linear). We also characterize features of the map if it exists. An algorithm is provided to determine if there exists a mapping of a non-constant coefficient linear differential equation to one with constant coefficients. These algorithms are implemented in the computer algebra language Maple, in the form of the MapDETools package. Our methods work directly at the level of systems of equations for infinitesimal symmetries. The key idea is to apply a finite number of differentiations and eliminations to the infinitesimal symmetry systems to yield them in the involutive form, where the properties of Lie symmetry algebra can be explored readily without solving the systems. We also generalize such differential-elimination algorithms to a more frequently applicable case involving approximate real coefficients. This contribution builds on a proposal by Reid et al. of applying Numerical Algebraic Geometry tools to find a general method for characterizing solution components of a system of differential equations containing approximate coefficients in the framework of the Jet geometry. Our numeric-symbolic algorithm exploits the fundamental features of the Jet geometry of differential equations such as differential Hilbert functions. Our novel approach establishes that the components of a differential equation can be represented by certain points called critical points