Natural Superconvergent Points of Triangular Finite Elements

In this work, we analytically identify natural superconvergent points of function values and gradients for triangular elements. Both the Poisson equation and the Laplace equation are discussed for polynomial finite element spaces (with degrees up to 8) under four different mesh patterns. Our results verify computer findings of [2], especially, we confirm that the computed data have 9 digits of accuracy with an exception of one pair (which has 8-7 digits of accuracy). In addition, we demonstrate that the function value superconvergent points predicted by the symmetry theory [14] are the only superconvergent points for the Poisson equation. Finally, we provide function value superconvergent points for the Laplace equation, which are not reported elsewhere in the literature.