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LegendrepolynomialsandRodrigues'formula
Insteadofsolvingtherecursionrelation(154)forthecoefficientsintheLegendrepolynomials,itiseasierto
usethefollowingtrick:

Considerthefunction

fn(x)=(x21)n. (20)

Bydifferentiationweseethatitsatisfiesthefollowingfirstorderdifferentialequation,

(1x2)f'n+2nxfn=0. (21)

Differentiatingthisequationwegetthesecondorderdifferentialeq.forfn,

(1x2)fn''2(n1)xfn'+2nfn=0. (22)

WewishtodifferentiatethisntimesbyuseofLeibniz'sformula,

(23)

Applyingthisto(22)weeasilyget

(1x2)fn(n+2)2xfn(n+1)+n(n+1)fn(n)=0, (24)

whichisexactlyLergendre'sdifferentialequation(149).Thisequationisthereforesatisfiedbythe
polynomials

(25)

TheLegendrepolynomialsPn(x)arenormalizedbytherequirementPn(1)=1.Using

(26)

weget
 (27)

ThisisRodrigues'formulafortheLegendrefunction.Bymeansofthebinominalformulaweget

(28)

Thesummationstartsatr=0andendwhenn2ris0(n=even)or1(n=odd).InevaluatingPnitismosteasy
touse(27)directly.Thus, .

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MetteLund
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