Numerical Approximations of ODEs Initial Value Problem; A Case Study of Gluconic Acid Fermentation by Pseudomonas ovalis

Abstract

Across different sections of life, physical and chemical sciences, differential equations which could be ordinary differential equations (ODEs) or partial differential equations (PDEs) are used to model the various systems as observed. Some types of ODEs, and a few PDEs are solvable by analytical methods with much difficulties. However, the great majority of ODEs, especially the non-linear ones and those that involve large sets of simultaneous differential equations, do not have analytical solutions but require the application of numerical techniques. This work focused on exemplifying numerical approximations (Adams-Bashforth-Moulton, Bogacki-Shampine, Euler) of ODEs Initial value Problem in its simplest approach using a case study of gluconic acid frementation by Psuedonomas Ovalis. The performance of the methods was checked by comparing their accuracy. The accuracy was detrermined by the size of the discretization error estimated from the difference between analytical solution and numerical approximations. The results obtained are in good agreement with the exact solution. This work affirms that numerical methods give approximate solutions with less rigorous work and time as there is room for flexibility in terms of using different step sizes with the Euler solver as most accurate.