Difference sche1nes as operator equations. General formulations 119
The operator A is positive definite, that is, (Ay, y) > 8IIy112· This is
a consequence of Lemma 3 in Section 3.4.
The norm of the operator A is equal to
(5)
4 7rh 4
11 A 11 = h 2 cos 2 2 < h 2
Indeed, the norm of a self-adjoint positive operator in a. finite-dimensional
space Qh is equal to its greatest eigenvalue: II A II= >.N_ 1. In that case, in
complete agreen1ent with the results of Section 4.2, we might have
and, therefore, formula (5) holds true. In addition,
(Ay, Y) < llAll · llYll^2 ·
The next quantity we will introduce is an operator with the values
(6) Ay=-(ayx)x+dy,
Due to the second Green formula it is self-adjoint. In turn, the first Green
formula assures us of the validity of the relation
(7) (Ay, y) =(a, y~] + (dy, y),
where y~ x = (y_ x )^2. This implies that
(8)
meaning that A is positive definite. It seems clear from fonnulae (7) and
(8) that its norm satisfies the estimate II A II< 4 c 2 /h^2 + c 3.
Remark Here the operator A = Ah depends only on the grid step h playing
for the moment the role of parameter. vVhen wh = { X; E [ 0, 1], i
0, 1, ... , N, x 0 = 0, xN = 1} is a non-equidistant grid, its step h;
x; - x;_ 1 itself becomes a grid function or an N-dimensional vector h
(h 1 , h 2 , .•• , hN). The operator A admits the form A= -A, where