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Finite difference approximations to multi-asset American put option price are considered. The assets are modelled as a multi-dimensional diffusion process with variable drift and volatility. Approximation error of order one quarter with respect to the time discretisation parameter and one half with respect to the space discretisation parameter is proved by reformulating the corresponding optimal stopping problem as a solution of a degenerate Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. Furthermore, the error arising from restricting the discrete problem to a finite grid by reducing the original problem to a bounded domain is estimated.

Recent results on convergence of fully discrete approximations combining the Galerkin method with the explicit-implicit Euler scheme are extended to strong convergence under additional monotonicity assumptions. It is shown that these abstract results, formulated in the setting of evolution equations, apply, for example, to the partial differential equation for vibrating membrane with nonlinear damping and to another partial differential equation that is similar to one of the equations used to describe martensitic transformations in shape-memory alloys. Numerical experiments are performed for the vibrating membrane equation with nonlinear damping which support the convergence results. 2010 Mathematical subject classification: 47J35; 65M12; 47H05; 47G20; 74K15; 74B20.