On computers, discrete problems are solved instead of continuous ones. One
must be sure that the solutions of the former problems, obtained in real time
(i.e., when the stepsize h is not infinitesimal) are good approximations of the
solutions of the latter ones. However, since the discrete world is much richer
than the continuous one (the latter being a limit case of the former), the
classical definitions and techniques, devised to analyze the behaviors of
continuous problems, are often insufficient to handle the discrete case, and
new specific tools are needed. Often, the insistence in following a path
already traced in the continuous setting, has caused waste of time and efforts,
whereas new specific tools have solved the problems both more easily and
elegantly. In this paper we survey three of the main difficulties encountered
in the numerical solutions of ODEs, along with the novel solutions proposed.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures (typos fixed
