Runge–Kutta methods and Banach algebras

The equations defining both the exact and the computed solution to an initial value problem are related to a single functional equation, which can be regarded as prototypical. The functional equation can be solved in terms of a formal Taylor series, which can also be generated using an iteration process. This leads to the formal Taylor expansions of the solution and approximate solutions to initial value problems. The usual formulation, using rooted trees, can be modified to allow for linear combinations of trees, and this gives an insight into the nature of order conditions for explicit Runge–Kutta methods. A short derivation of the family of fourth order methods with four stages is given.