Physics 508 HW 1 solutions

1) See page 97 of Hand and Finch

2) Use the Euler Lagrange equations:
a. d/dt (dL/d(xdot)) = dL/dx
b. The constant of motion is momentum in the x direction! (notice that L does not depend on x
explicitly).
c. x is the ignorable coordinate
3) Use the Legendre polynomials:
Plm=p(cos0)