Notes on hypergeometric functions

John D. Cook April 10, 2003

Denitions and notations

Dene the kth rising power of a real number a by ak = a(a + 1)(a + 2) (a + k 1). Similarly, dene the kth falling power of a by ak = a(a 1)(a 2) (a k + 1). We dene a0 = a0 = 1. The quantity ak is sometimes denoted by the Pochammer symbol (a)k . In calculations, it is often convenient to convert between rising powers, falling powers, and factorials. When a is not an integer, interpret a! as (a + 1) in the notes below.

ak ak (a + k)! (a k)!

= (a + k 1)!/(a 1)! = a!/(a k)! = a!(a + 1)k = a!/ak

A hypergeometric function is a function whose power series representation has the form ak . . . ak z k p 1 . k . . . bk k! b q
1

k0

We denote such a function by F (a1 , . . . , ap ; b1 , . . . , bq ; z). 1

A hypergeometric function is called Gaussian if p = 2 and q = 1. This is the most common form and is often called the hypergeometric function. If p = q = 1 then the function is called a conuent hypergeometric function. Otherwise the function is called a generalized hypergeometric function. One can show that a function is hypergeometric if and only if in the representation f (z) = tk z k
k0

the ratio

tk+1 tk

is a rational function of k. The parameters of the hypergeometric function are zeros and poles of this rational function.

Transformations

The function F (a, b; c; z) satises seven identities known as linear transformations. These relationships are typographically complex and will only be summarized here. See Abramowitz and Stegun for full details. These the linear transformations relate F (a, b; c; z) to F (a , b ; c ; z ) where z is one of the following: z 1/z 1z (z 1)/z z/(1 z) 1/(z 1) In terms of the parameters, the linear transformations relate (a, b; c) to (c a, c b; c) (a, c b; c) (b, c a; c) (a, b; a + b c + 1) and (c a, c b; c a b + 1) (a, 1 c + a; 1 b + a) and (b, 1 c + b; 1 a + b) 2

 (a, c b; a b + 1) and (b, c a; b a + 1) (a, a c + 1; a + b c + 1) and (c a, 1 a; c a b + 1) There exist quadratic transformations if and only if out of the six numbers (1 c), (a b), (a + b c)

either two are equal or one equals 1/2. Again see Abramowitz and Stegun for details.

Hypergeometric forms of common functions

ez (1 z)a (1 + z)2a + (1 z)2a (1 + z)2a (1 z)2a
1 1 1 + (1 z) 2 2 2

12a

= F (; ; z) = F (a; ; z) 1 1 = 2F (a; a; ; z 2 ) 2 2 1 3 = 4azF ( a; 1 a; ; z 2 ) 2 2 1 = F (a, a ; 2a; z) 2 = F (a + 1, 2a; a; z) 1 1 = F (; ; z 2 ) 2 4 3 1 = zF (; ; z 2 ) 2 4 1 = F (a, a; ; sin2 z) 2 1 1 3 = 2a sin zF ( + a, a; ; sin2 z) 2 2 2 1 1 3 = F ( , ; ; sin2 z) 2 2 2 = zF (1, 1; 2; z) 1 3 = 2zF ( , 1; ; z 2 ) 2 2 1 1 3 = zF ( , ; ; z 2 ) 2 2 2 1 3 = F ( , 1; ; z 2 ) 2 2 1 3 = zF ( , 1; ; z 2 ) 2 2 xa (1 x)b = F (1, a + b; a + 1; x) aB(a, b) 3

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17)

(1 + z)(1 z)2a1 cos(z) sin(z) cos(2az) sin(2az) z csc z log(1 z) 1+z log 1z arcsin(z) arccos(z) arctan(z) Ix (a, b)

(a, z) Erf(z)
(,) Pn (x)

= = = = = = =

K(z) E(z) J (z) I (z) In the above table, Ix (a, b) (a, z) Erf(z) K(z) E(z) = =
0 z

za z a z F (a; a + 1; z) = e F (a; a + 1; z) (18) a a 2 1 3 3 zF ( ; ; z 2 ) = zez F (1; ; z 2 ) (19) 2 2 2 1x ( + 1)n F (n, n + + + 1; + 1; ) 20) ( n! 2 1 1 F ( , ; 1; z 2 ) (21) 2 2 2 1 1 F ( , ; 1; z 2 ) (22) 2 2 2 2 (z/2) z F (; 1 + ; ) (23) ( + 1) 4 z2 (z/2) F (; 1 + ; ) (24) ( + 1) 4

1 B(a, b)
z

ta1 (1 t)b1 dt
0

(incomplete beta)

ta1 et dt et dt
0 /2
2

(incomplete gamma)

= =
0

(error function) (complete elliptic integral 1st kind) (complete elliptic integral 2nd kind)

(1 z 2 sin2 t)1/2 dt
/2

=
0

(1 z 2 sin2 t)1/2 dt

Also, Pn

(,)

(x) is the nth Jacobi polynomial with parameters and .

References

Generalized Hypergeometric Series by W. N. Bailey, Cambridge (1935) Handbook of Mathematical Functions by Abramowitz and Stegun (1964) The special functions and their approximations by Yudell L. Luke v. 1 (1969) Concrete Mathematics by Graham, Knuth, and Patashnik (1994)