Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

6-3-2005

Abstract

For a given partial differential equation, such as Poisson’s equation in two dimensions, stipulating the null-space component of the solution is sometimes a useful alternative to specifying boundary conditions in order to determine a unique solution. To implement this approach computationally, we need a sparse and well-conditioned representation of the null space of the relevant differential operator. We discuss how the null-space method works and present an explicit formula for generating a sparse null basis for a uniform, finite-difference discretization of Laplacian operator on the unit square. The formula makes use of a triangular array which has the large Schroeder numbers on its diagonal. We also consider the conditioning of such a basis and demonstrate the use of the basis in a numerical procedure for computing an approximate solution to the patrol differential equation.

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