We study stability, dispersion and dissipation properties of four numerical
schemes (Iterative Crank-Nicolson, 3'rd and 4'th order Runge-Kutta and
Courant-Fredrichs-Levy Non-linear). By use of a Von Neumann analysis we study
the schemes applied to a scalar linear wave equation as well as a scalar
non-linear wave equation with a type of non-linearity present in GR-equations.
Numerical testing is done to verify analytic results. We find that the method
of lines (MOL) schemes are the most dispersive and dissipative schemes. The
Courant-Fredrichs-Levy Non-linear (CFLN) scheme is most accurate and least
dispersive and dissipative, but the absence of dissipation at Nyquist
frequency, if fact, puts it at a disadvantage in numerical simulation. Overall,
the 4'th order Runge-Kutta scheme, which has the least amount of dissipation
among the MOL schemes, seems to be the most suitable compromise between the
overall accuracy and damping at short wavelengths.Comment: 9 pages, 8 Postscript figure