After reviewing the state of affairs fifty years ago, I use classic finite difference methods, followed by extrapolation, to find the first eigenvalue of the region underlying the MathWorks logo.... read more >>

MathWorks is the only company in the world whose logo satisfies a partial differential equation. Why is the region for this equation shaped like a capital letter L? ... read more >>

Stiffness is a subtle concept that plays an important role in assessing the effectiveness of numerical methods for ordinary differential equations. (This article is adapted from section 7.9, "Stiffness", in Numerical Computing with MATLAB.) ... read more >>

The functions ode23 and ode45 are the principal MATLAB and Simulink tools for solving nonstiff ordinary differential equations.... read more >>

MATLAB and Simulink have a powerful suite of routines for the numerical solution of ordinary differential equations. Today's post offers an introduction. Subsequent posts will examine several of the routines in more detail.... read more >>

Changing the value of a parameter in the equations that produce the famous Lorenz chaotic attractor yields nonlinear ordinary differential equations that have periodic solutions. ... read more >>