For a school project I have to determine a function u(t) of time. I have derived an expression of the following form:
(https://i.sstatic.net/vNrYb.png)
with a,b,c,d constants (not necessarily integers). I have figured out that this problem is only solvable with numerical integration with initial condition u(0)=u_0, yet I don't know how to do this particular problem.
I have looked at all the numerical integration methods I have learnt so far, but they all seem to apply for polynomials or for functions where you know the function evaluations at specific points.
There are lots of ways to calculate an approximate value for u(t), some simple but requiring a lot of iterations, and more complex requiring fewer iterations. Assuming a,b,c,d are real numbers, and u_0 = u(0) then for t > 0, one could just split the interval between 0 and t into N sub-intervals and calculate
u_(i+1) = u_i + (du/dt)(t_i)*t/N
where t_i = i*t/N
then,
u_N = u(t).
If N is not sufficiently large, the result will be inaccurate. To obtain a satisfactory N is more art than science. Just printing the results for increasing N should give you an idea of how large N needs to be to obtain the level of accuracy you need. Adding higher order terms (d^2u/dt^2 etc.) can sometimes improve speed and accuracy.
