Finite difference method

In mathematics, finite-difference methods (FDM) are numerical methods for solving differential equations by approximating them with difference equations, in which finite differences approximate the derivatives. FDMs are thus discretization methods. FDMs convert a linear (non-linear) ODE (Ordinary Differential Equations) /PDE (Partial differential equations) into a system of linear (non-linear) equations, which can then be solved by matrix algebra techniques. The reduction of the differential equation to a system of algebraic equations makes the problem of finding the solution to a given ODE ideally suited to modern computers, hence the widespread use of FDMs in modern numerical analysis. In mathematics, finite-difference methods (FDM) are numerical methods for solving differential equations by approximating them with difference equations, in which finite differences approximate the derivatives. FDMs are thus discretization methods. FDMs convert a linear (non-linear) ODE (Ordinary Differential Equations) /PDE (Partial differential equations) into a system of linear (non-linear) equations, which can then be solved by matrix algebra techniques. The reduction of the differential equation to a system of algebraic equations makes the problem of finding the solution to a given ODE ideally suited to modern computers, hence the widespread use of FDMs in modern numerical analysis. Today, FDMs are the dominant approach to numerical solutions of partial differential equations. First, assuming the function whose derivatives are to be approximated is properly-behaved, by Taylor's theorem, we can create a Taylor series expansion where n! denotes the factorial of n, and Rn(x) is a remainder term, denoting the difference between the Taylor polynomial of degree n and the original function. We will derive an approximation for the first derivative of the function 'f' by first truncating the Taylor polynomial: Setting, x0=a we have, Dividing across by h gives: