Fourth-order centered second derivative ($D_{4,h}{u}_m=(-u_{m-2}+16u_{m-1}-30u_m+16u_{m+1}-u_{m+2})/(12h^2)$)

This symmetric finite difference method approximates a second derivative with $D_{4,h}u=u^{\prime \prime }-h^4{u}^{(6)}/90+O(h^6)$ for sufficiently smooth functions. Matching the constant, second-derivative and fourth-derivative coefficients of a symmetric five-node Taylor expansion determines the displayed weights uniquely; its sixth-derivative coefficient is nonzero. The Fourier symbol is $-4h^{-2}{\sin }^2(\theta /2)[1+{\sin }^2(\theta /2)/3]\le 0$. Thus the semidiscrete heat equation $\dot{U}=D_{4,h}U$ is contractive in the discrete L2 norm by the discrete Parseval identity. This says nothing by itself about stability of a subsequently chosen time update.