238 Difference Schen1es for Elliptic Equations
solving the Poisson equation
p u ,:i2 'U
/:,.u = 2= ax2 = -t(x),
a=l ex
(1) x E G,
subject to the boundary condition
where x = (x 1 , x 2 , , • , xp), G is a p-dimensional finite domain with the
boundary f,
- The difference approximation of the Laplace operator. We begin by
defining a difference analog of the Laplace operator in the plane x =
(xi' X2):
(2) o:=l,2.
In this direction the operator L1 1l =^88
2
xi t or L2 1l =^828 x2 ~ is approximated at
a point x = (x 1 , x 2 ) by the three-point operator A 1 or A 2 , respectively:
(3) L 1 v ~ A1 v = vx,x, = : 2 (v(x 1 + h 1 , x 2 )
I
(4)
- 2v (x 1 , x 2 ) + v(x 1 - h 1 , x 2 )),
L2 v ~ A2 v = V;c 2 x 2 =
1
1
2 ( v( x^1 , x^2 + h^2 )
'2
-2v(x 1 ,x 2 )+v(x 1 ,x 2 -h 2 )),
where approximation is denoted by the symbol ~ and h 1 > 0, h 2 > 0 are
the steps along the axes x 1 and x 2 , respectively.
The operator:o· A 1 and A2 are specified on the regular three-point pat-
terns
and
respectively, Taking into account (3) and ( 4), we replace the Laplace oper-
ator (2) by the difference operator
(5) AV = A 1 V + A 2 V = Vx- 1 ·'-' ~ 1 + Vx• ' 2 x· 2 ,