Optimal error estimates for an approximation of degenerate parabolic problems

A fully discrete scheme for a class of multidimensional degenerate parabolic equations is proposed. The discretization is given by C**0 piecewise linear finite elements in space and backward differences in time (the smoothing procedure is avoided). Numerical integration is used; hence the proposed method is easy to implement. Optimal error estimates in energy norms are proved for the solutions.