Non-linear stability of a general class of differential equation methods

For a class of methods sufficiently general as to include linear multistep and Runge-Kutta methods as special cases, a concept known as algebraic stability is defined. This property is based on a non-linear test problem and extends existing results on Runge-Kutta methods and on linear multistep and one-leg methods. The algebraic stability properties of a number of particular methods in these families are studied and a generalization is made which enables estimates of error growth to be provided for certain classes of methods.