Fourth-Order Runge-Kutta Method for Generalized Black-Scholes Partial Differential Equations

Abstract: The famous Black-Scholes partial differential equation is one of the most widely used and researched equations in modern financial engineering to address the complex evaluations in the financial markets. This thesis investigates a numerical technique, using a fourth-order discretization in time and space, to solve a generalized version of the classical Black-Scholes partial differential equation. The numerical discretization in space consists of a fourth order centered difference approximation in the interior points of the spatial domain along with a fourth order left and right sided approximation for the points near the boundary. On the other hand, the temporal discretization is made by implementing a Runge-Kutta order four (RK4) method. The designed approximations are analyzed numerically with respect to stability and convergence properties.