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Chebyshev Polynomial of the First Kind

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The Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are a set of orthogonal polynomials defined as the
solutions to the Chebyshev differential equation and denoted . They are used as an
approximation to a least squares fit, and are a special case of the Gegenbauer polynomial with
. They are also intimately connected with trigonometric multiple-angle formulas. The
Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are denoted , and are implemented in the
Wolfram Language as ChebyshevT[n, x]. They are normalized such that . The first
few polynomials are illustrated above for and , 2, ..., 5.

The Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind can be defined by the contour integral

(1)

where the contour encloses the origin and is traversed in a counterclockwise direction (Arfken
1985, p. 416).

The first few Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are

 (2)
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(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

When ordered from smallest to largest powers, the triangle of nonzero coefficients is 1; 1; ,
2; , 4; 1, , 8; 5, , 16, ... (OEIS A008310).

A beautiful plot can be obtained by plotting radially, increasing the radius for each value
of , and filling in the areas between the curves (Trott 1999, pp. 10 and 84).

The Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are defined through the identity

(9)

or

(10)

The Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind can be obtained from the generating functions

(11)

(12)
and
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(13)

(14)

for and (Beeler et al. 1972, Item 15). (A closely related generating function is the
basis for the definition of Chebyshev polynomial of the second kind.)

A direct representation in terms of powers of square roots is given by

(15)

The polynomials can also be defined in terms of the sums

(16)

(17)

where is a binomial coefficient and is the floor function, or the product

(18)

(Zwillinger 1995, p. 696).

also satisfy the curious determinant equation

(19)

(Nash 1986).

The Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are a special case of the Jacobi polynomials
with ,
TOPICS
(20)

(21)

where is a hypergeometric function (Koekoek and Swarttouw 1998).

Zeros occur when

(22)

for , 2, ..., . Extrema occur for

(23)

where . At maximum, , and at minimum, .

The Chebyshev polynomials are orthogonal polynomials with respect to the weighting
function

(24)

where is the Kronecker delta. Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind satisfy the
additional discrete identity

(25)

where for , ..., are the zeros of .

They also satisfy the recurrence relations

(26)
(27)

for , as well as

(28)
(29)

(Watkins and Zeitlin 1993; Rivlin 1990, p. 5).

They have a complex integral representation

TOPICS (30)

and a Rodrigues representation

(31)

Using a fast Fibonacci transform with multiplication law

(32)

gives

(33)

Using Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization in the range ( ,1) with weighting function

gives

(34)

(35)

(36)

(37)

(38)

(39)

(40)

etc. Normalizing such that gives the Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind.

The Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind is related to the Bessel function of the first kind
and modified Bessel function of the first kind by the relations

(41)

(42)

Letting allows the Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind to be written as

 (43)
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(44)

The second linearly dependent solution to the transformed differential equation

(45)

is then given by

(46)
(47)

which can also be written

(48)

where is a Chebyshev polynomial of the second kind. Note that is therefore not a
polynomial.

The triangle of resultants is given by , , , ,

, ... (OEIS A054375).

The polynomials

(49)

of degree , the first few of which are

(50)
(51)
(52)

(53)
(54)
are the polynomials of degree which stay closest to in the interval . The
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maximum deviation is at the points where

(55)

for , 1, ..., (Beeler et al. 1972).

SEE ALSO

Chebyshev Approximation Formula, Chebyshev Polynomial of the Second Kind

RELATED WOLFRAM SITES

http://functions.wolfram.com/Polynomials/ChebyshevT/,
http://functions.wolfram.com/HypergeometricFunctions/ChebyshevTGeneral/

EXPLORE WITH WOLFRAM|ALPHA

(1+i)^(1/5)

More things to try: = (1+i)^(1/5) = Euler phi = lim ((x+h)^5 - x^5)/h as h->0

REFERENCES

Abramowitz, M. and Stegun, I. A. (Eds.). "Orthogonal Polynomials." Ch. 22 in Handbook of Mathematical

Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables, 9th printing. New York: Dover, pp. 771-802, 1972.
Arfken, G. "Chebyshev (Tschebyscheff) Polynomials" and "Chebyshev Polynomials--Numerical
Applications." §13.3 and 13.4 in Mathematical Methods for Physicists, 3rd ed. Orlando, FL: Academic Press,
pp. 731-748, 1985.
Beeler et al. Item 15 in Beeler, M.; Gosper, R. W.; and Schroeppel, R. HAKMEM. Cambridge, MA: MIT Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory, Memo AIM-239, p. 9, Feb. 1972.
http://www.inwap.com/pdp10/hbaker/hakmem/recurrence.html#item15.
Iyanaga, S. and Kawada, Y. (Eds.). "Čebyšev (Tschebyscheff) Polynomials." Appendix A, Table 20.II in
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 1478-1479, 1980.
Koekoek, R. and Swarttouw, R. F. "Chebyshev." §1.8.2 in The Askey-Scheme of Hypergeometric Orthogonal
Polynomials and its -Analogue. Delft, Netherlands: Technische Universiteit Delft, Faculty of Technical
Mathematics and Informatics Report 98-17, pp. 41-43, 1998.
Koepf, W. "Efficient Computation of Chebyshev Polynomials." In Computer Algebra Systems: A Practical Guide
(Ed. M. J. Wester). New York: Wiley, pp. 79-99, 1999.
Nash, P. L. "Chebyshev Polynomials and Quadratic Path Integrals." J. Math. Phys. 27, 2963, 1986.
Rivlin, T. J. Chebyshev Polynomials. New York: Wiley, 1990.
Shohat, J. Théorie générale des polynomes orthogonaux de Tchebichef. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1934.
Sloane, N. J. A. Sequences A008310 and A054375 in "The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences."
Spanier, J. and Oldham, K. B. "The Chebyshev Polynomials and ." Ch. 22 in An Atlas of
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Functions. Washington, DC: Hemisphere, pp. 193-207, 1987.
Trott, M. Graphica 1: The World of Mathematica Graphics. The Imaginary Made Real: The Images of Michael
Trott. Champaign, IL: Wolfram Media, pp. 10 and 84, 1999.
Vasilyev, N. and Zelevinsky, A. "A Chebyshev Polyplayground: Recurrence Relations Applied to a Famous Set
of Formulas." Quantum 10, 20-26, Sept./Oct. 1999.
Watkins, W. and Zeitlin, J. "The Minimal Polynomial of ." Amer. Math. Monthly 100, 471-474,
1993.
Zwillinger, D. (Ed.). CRC Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulae. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1995.

REFERENCED ON WOLFRAM|ALPHA

Chebyshev Polynomial of the First Kind

CITE THIS AS:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Chebyshev Polynomial of the First Kind." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.
https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ChebyshevPolynomialoftheFirstKind.html

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Recreational Mathematics › Mathematical Art › Mathematical Images ›
MathWorld Contributors › Trott ›

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