Legendre Polynomials Pn(x)

K M BILLAH, LECTURER,
DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, UU
 Special Functions

Bessel’s Equation of order v

(1)
x 2 y  xy  ( x 2  v 2 ) y  0
where v  0, and x = 0 is a regular singular point of (1). The
solutions of (1) are called Bessel functions.
Legendre's Equation of order n
(1  x 2 ) y  2 xy  n(n  1) y  0
(2)
where n is a nonnegative integer, and x = 0 is an ordinary
point of (2). The solutions of (2) are called Legendre
functions.
 The Solution of Legendre Equation

Since x = 0 is an ordinary point of (2), we use

y   c
n0 n x n

After substitutions and simplifications, we obtain

n( n  1)c0  2c2  0
( n  1)(n  2)c1  6c3  0
( j  2)( j  1)c j  2  ( n  j )(n  j  1)c j  0
or in the following forms:
 n(n  1)
c2   c0
2!
(n  1)(n  2)
c3   c1
3!
(n  j )(n  j  1)
c j 2   c j , j  2, 3, 4,  (25)
( j  2)( j  1)
Using (25), at least |x| < 1, we obtain
 n(n  1) 2 (n  2)n(n  1)(n  3) 4
y1 ( x)  c0 1  x  x
 2! 4!
(n  4)(n  2)n(n  1)(n  3)(n  5) 6
 x  
6! 
  (n  1)(n  2) 3 (n  3)(n  1)(n  2)(n  4) 5
y2 ( x)  c1  x  x  x
 3 ! 5!
(n  5)(n  3)(n  1)(n  2)(n  4)(n  6) 7
 x   (26)
7! 

Notice: If n is an even integer, the first series

terminates, whereas y2 is an infinite series.
If n is an odd integer, the series y2 terminates with xn.
 Legendre Polynomials

The following are nth order Legendre polynomials:

P0 ( x)  1, P1 ( x)  x
1 1
P2 ( x)  (3 x 2  1), P3 ( x)  (5 x 3 )  3 x
2 2
1 1
P4 ( x)  (35x   30 x 2  3), P5 ( x)  (63x5  70 x3  15 x)
8 8
They are in turn the solutions of the DEs. See Fig 5.5

n  0 : (1  x 2 ) y  2 xy  0
n  1 : (1  x 2 ) y  2 xy  2 y  0
n  2 : (1  x 2 ) y  2 xy  6 y  0
(28)
n  3 : (1  x 2 ) y  2 xy  12 y  0
 
 Properties

(1) Pn ( x)  (1)n Pn ( x)

(2) Pn (1)  1

(3) Pn (1)  (1)n

(4) Pn (0)  0, n odd

(5) P 'n (0)  0, n even

 Recurrence Relation

Without proof, we have

(k  1) Pk 1 ( x)  (2k  1) xPk ( x)  kPk 1 ( x(29)
)0
which is valid for k = 1, 2, 3, …
Another formula by differentiation to generate Legender polynomials is
called the Rodrigues’ formula:

n (30)
1 d 2 n
Pn ( x)  n n
( x  1) , n  0, 1, 2, ...
2 n! dx
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