\input zb-basic \input zb-ioport \iteman{io-port 00917619} \itemau{Lebedev, V.I.} \itemti{How to solve stiff systems of differential equations by explicit methods.} \itemso{Marchuk, Guri I. (ed.), Numerical methods and applications. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 45-80 (1994).} \itemab Methods for solving large stiff systems of ordinary differential equations, difference or variational-difference methods for solving nonstationary problems in mathematical physics, and methods for parallelizing algorithms for multiprocessor computers, seen as a complex whole, give rise to yet another discussion of the efficacy of explicit difference schemes permitting, in this situation, obviously and naturally, the parallel mode of computation. This paper discusses explicit schemes with time-variable steps and their efficacy and argues that these schemes permit stable integration of nonstationary problems with a far greater mean time step than do schemes with constant time steps. \itemrv{~} \itemcc{} \itemut{parallel computation; method of lines; difference methods; large stiff systems; explicit methods} \itemli{} \end