Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-approximation-theory-and-finite-element-methods-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2007/b/7/iii/solution

Two interval Poincaré inequalities give : the error has zero endpoint values and its derivative has zero mean. Apply Cauchy-Schwarz inequality on each interval and then to the sum:
Here . Taking and cancelling its norm, unless it is zero already, yields
For adaptive refinement, solve the discrete problem, compute , and stop when . Otherwise mark intervals carrying a fixed positive fraction of , bisect them, and repeat. Residual integration must be exact or have a certified upper bound if the stopping test is to certify the requested tolerance.
Use residual adaptation with a uniform-refinement safeguard, for example global bisection every second refinement, to ensure eventual termination. Discrete energy stability gives , so independently of the mesh. Thus tends to zero under the safeguard. Other iterations concentrate work where the residual is large.

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