Euler-like discrete models of the logistic differential equation

To understand the behavior of difference schemes on nonlinear differential equations, it seems desirable to extend the standard linear stability theory into a nonlinear theory. As a step in that direction, we investigate the stability properties of Euler-related integration algorithms by checking how they preserve and violate the dynamical structure of the logistic differential equation. Among the schemes considered are two linearly implicit nonstandard schemes which are adjoint to each other. We find that these schemes are superior to explicit schemes when they are stable and the blow-up time has not passed: for these λh-values they are dynamically faithful. When these schemes ‘turn unstable’, however, they have much less desirable properties than explicit or fully implicit schemes: they become simultaneously superstable and unstable. This is explained by the fact that these schemes are not self-adjoint: the linearly implicit self-adjoint scheme is dynamically faithful in an Euler-typical range of step sizes and gives correct stability for all step sizes.