According to the values of and , different algorithms can be derived:
: pure explicit algorithm. It can be shown that it is
always unstable. An integration scheme is stable if a critical time step exists so that,
for a value of the time step lower or equal to this critical value, a finite
perturbation at a given time does not lead to a growing modification at future time
steps.
: central difference algorithm. It can be shown that it is
conditionally stable.
: Fox & Goodwin algorithm.
: linear acceleration.
: mean acceleration. This integration scheme is the
unconditionally stable algorithm of maximum accuracy.