Error behaviour of multistep methods applied to unstable differential systems

The problem of modelling a dynamic system described by a system of ordinary differential equations which has unstable components for limited periods of time is discussed. It is shown that the global error in a multistep numerical method is the solution to a difference equation initial value problem, and the approximate solution is given for several popular multistep integration formulae. Inspection of the solution leads to the formulation of four criteria for integrators appropriate to unstable problems. A sample problem is solved numerically using three popular formulae and two different stepsizes to illustrate the appropriateness of the criteria.