This section discusses a special technique for power series representation of nonlinear equations, known as the modified decomposition method (MDM for short). Its first concept was proposed by Randolph Rach during his discussions with G. Adomian in 1989 that was crystallized later in a paper published with his colleagues G. Adomian and R.E. Meyers in 1992. That is why this technique is sometimes referred to as the Rach--Adomian--Meyers modified decomposition method. The main idea of the MDM is to decompose the nonlinear term into a power series with the aid of the Adomian polynomials (that are genuine polynomials in this case). Then substitution of the power series solutions along with Adomian decomposition leads to full-history recurrence for determination of its coefficients.
This and next two sections illustrate applications of modified decomposition
method for solving initial value problems for first and second order
differential equations.
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The MDM and its modifications and generalizations have
been extensively applied in physics, chemistry, mechanics, hydrology,
engineering, economics, biology, epidemiology, etc. Some references can be found in the following link.
The crucial aspect of the Adomian decomposition method (ADM) is the assumption that both, the solution to the problem (for simplicity, we illustrate it on the initial value problem for the first order autonomous differential equation)
and the nonlinear term f(y) in the equation can be expanded via components determined recursively. More precisely,
it is assumed that the solution to a (nonlinear) problem is represented by an infinite series
where components un are determined recursively by solving some auxiliary problems. Although the ADM can be applied for linear problems, it gives no advantage compared to well known other methods. Therefore, we consider only equations containing nonlinearities. If such nonlinearity is described by a
holomorphic functionf(y), the ADM decomposes it via so called Adomian polynomials
The employment of the "Adomian polynomials" An to represent the nonlinear portion of the equation as a convergent series actually does not depend on a particular form of its components u0, u1, … . So the Adomian decomposition for a nonlinear analytic function can be used for arbitrary sequence { un }n≥0. To determine Adomian polynomials, it is convenient to introduce the generating function corresponding to the given sequence { un }n≥0:
\[
Y(\lambda ) = \sum_{n\ge 0} u_n \lambda^n ,
\]
where λ is a grouping parameter that we later set equal to 1. Suppose that a holomorphic functionf(y) is given, for which we assign the generating function
A natural question is for what sequence of functions { un }n≥0 the Adomian polynomials admit simplification? Looking at the structure of these polynomials, we see that if the elements of the sequence { un } satisfy the group property
then all Adomian polynomials will be proportional to particular terms of the sequence. Two of well-known sequences are good candidates for such sequences:
monomials
ϕn(x) = xn;
trigonometric monomials
\( \displaystyle \phi_n (x) = e^{{\bf j} \omega x} = \cos (\omega x) + {\bf j}\,\sin (\omega x), \) where j is a unit vector in positive vertical direction on the complex plane ℂ and ω is a real scalar.
There are exist other sequences of functions that are suitable for similar simplification, for instance, Chebyshev's polynomials of the first kind due to the formula \( \displaystyle 2\,T_n (x) T_m (x) = T_{n+m} (x) + T_{|n-m|} (x) . \)
However, they are adequate for solving first order differential equations because Appell's identify \( \displaystyle
\frac{\text d}{{\text d}x}\,u_n (x) = n\,u_{n-1} (x) \) is not valid for Chebyshev polynomials.
Each of the above two sequences (or their shifted versions) generates either Maclaurin power series (or Taylor) expansion or a Fourier series expansion. Since in this section we are looking for power series, we postpone applications of the latter to the second tutorial.
If we are given a sequence of functions { ϕn(x) }n≥0 that satisfies the group property \( \displaystyle \phi_n (x)\, \phi_m (x) = \phi_{n+m} (x) , \) we can expand the solution into (convergent) series
where ck are coefficients (scalars) of the expansion above.
Correspondingly, we expand the nonlinear term f(y) into the series over the same set of functions:
Theorem:
If f(y) is a holomorphic function and { ϕn(x) }n≥0 is an arbitrary sequence of the functions that satisfies the group property \( \displaystyle \phi_n (x)\, \phi_m (x) = \phi_{n+m} (x) , \) then
Actually, Mathematica can find any Adomian polynomial for polynomial nonlinearities with a dedicated command Coefficient or CoefficientList; so sometimes the above formula is not needed when there is an access to the computer algebra system. Recall that if N is not a polynomial, then Mathematica cannot provide you an answer, and you have to use a special script to determine coefficients.
Mathematica code for evaluating Adomian polynomials (Jun-Sheng Duan, An efficient algorithm for the multivariable Adomian polynomials, Applied Mathematics and Computation, 2010, 217, pp. 2456--2467):
We can obtain the same values of coefficients c0, c1, c2, … using the Adomian polynomials. Application of the Adomian algorithm to the function f(y) = y³ yields
ADM
MDM
A0(u0) = u0³
A0(c0) = c0³
A1(u0, u1) = 3 u0² u1
A1(c0, c1) =2 c0² c1
A2(u0, u1, u2) = 3u0u1² + 3 u0² u2
A2(c0, c1, c2) = 3c0c1² + 3 c0² c2
A3(u0, u1, u2, u3) = 3 u0² u3 + 6 u0u1u2 + u1³
A3(c0, c1, c2, c3) = 3 c0² c3 + 6 c0c1c2 + c1³
⋮
⋮
■
Example:
Given the artangent Maclaurin series
\[
\arctan x = x - \frac{x^3}{3} + \frac{x^5}{5} - \cdots = \sum_{k\ge 0} \frac{(-1)^k}{2k+1}\, x^{2k+1} ,
\]
we find the corresponding power series for its square
Although we can multiply these two series and use the convolution rule, we show how coefficients of arctan²x can be determined with Adomian polynomials. Using the condition that all even powers are not present in arctangent series:
Example:
Let us consider the exponential function \( \displaystyle u = e^x = \sum_{n\ge 0} \frac{x^n}{n!} = \sum_{n\ge 0} c_n x^n , \) where \( \displaystyle c_n = \frac{1}{n!} , \quad n=0,1,2,\ldots . \)
Raising it to the third power, we get
Example:
Let us consider the reciprocal function f(y) = 1/y. In this case, we actually need to find the inverse of power series. It was done previously using multiplication of two series and solving recurrence relation. Here we show that the required series is easily determined with Adomian's decomposition.
where An are corresponding Adomian polynomials.
We find its coefficients An by calculating the reciprocal to
\( \displaystyle e^x = \sum_{n\ge 0} \frac{1}{n!}\,x^n \) when coefficients cn = 1/n! are known. Using the previous formulas, we find the corresponding coefficients:
Suppose we want to find the Maclaurin series for 1/(arccot(x))³.
We cannot use the build-in Mathematica command Coefficient because the given function 1/(arccot(x))³ is not a polynomial. Therefore, we use the standard command to expand this function into the Maclaurin series.
Using the derivative of the arccotangent function,
\( {\text d}\,\mbox{arccot}(x)/{\text d}x = -\left( 1 + x^2 \right)^{-1} , \) we calculate the next Adomian's polynomial:
Abassy, T.A., Improved Adomian decomposition method, Computers and Mathematics with Applications, 2010, Vol.59, pp. 42--54.
Gonzalez-Parra, G., Acedo, L., Arenas, A., Accuracy of analytical-numerical solutions of the Michaelis-Menten equation, Computational & Applied Mathematics, 2011, Volume 30, No. 2, pp. 445--461.
Duan, J.-S. and Rach, R., New higher-order numerical one-step
methods based on the Adomian and the modified decomposition methods,
Applied Mathematics and Computation, 2011, Vol. 218 No. 6, pp. 2810-2828.
Khuri, S.A., On the decomposition method for the approximate solution of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 2001, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 525--539.
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