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Legendrepolynomials
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Inmathematics,LegendrefunctionsaresolutionstoLegendre'sdifferentialequation:

(1)

TheyarenamedafterAdrienMarieLegendre.Thisordinarydifferentialequationisfrequentlyencounteredinphysicsand
othertechnicalfields.Inparticular,itoccurswhensolvingLaplace'sequation(andrelatedpartialdifferentialequations)in
sphericalcoordinates.

TheLegendredifferentialequationmaybesolvedusingthestandardpowerseriesmethod.Theequationhasregularsingular
pointsatx=1so,ingeneral,aseriessolutionabouttheoriginwillonlyconvergefor|x|<1.Whennisaninteger,the
solutionPn(x)thatisregularatx=1isalsoregularatx=1,andtheseriesforthissolutionterminates(i.e.itisa
polynomial).

Thesesolutionsforn=0,1,2,...(withthenormalizationPn(1)=1)formapolynomialsequenceoforthogonalpolynomials
calledtheLegendrepolynomials.EachLegendrepolynomialPn(x)isannthdegreepolynomial.Itmaybeexpressedusing
Rodrigues'formula:

ThatthesepolynomialssatisfytheLegendredifferentialequation(1)followsbydifferentiatingn+1timesbothsidesofthe
identity

andemployingthegeneralLeibnizruleforrepeateddifferentiation.[1]ThePncanalsobedefinedasthecoefficientsina
Taylorseriesexpansion:[2]

(2)

Inphysics,thisordinarygeneratingfunctionisthebasisformultipoleexpansions.

Contents
1 Recursivedefinition
2 Orthogonality
3 ApplicationsofLegendrepolynomialsinphysics
3.1 Legendrepolynomialsinmultipoleexpansions
3.2 Legendrepolynomialsintrigonometry
4 AdditionalpropertiesofLegendrepolynomials
5 ShiftedLegendrepolynomials
6 Legendrefunctionsofthesecondkind
7 Legendrefunctionsoffractionaldegree
8 Seealso
9 Notes
10 References
11 Externallinks

Recursivedefinition

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ExpandingtheTaylorseriesinEquation(2)forthefirsttwotermsgives

forthefirsttwoLegendrePolynomials.ToobtainfurthertermswithoutresortingtodirectexpansionoftheTaylorseries,
equation(2)isdifferentiatedwithrespecttotonbothsidesandrearrangedtoobtain

Replacingthequotientofthesquarerootwithitsdefinitionin(2),andequatingthecoefficientsofpowersoftintheresulting
expansiongivesBonnetsrecursionformula

Thisrelation,alongwiththefirsttwopolynomialsP0andP1,allowstheLegendrePolynomialstobegeneratedrecursively.

Explicitrepresentationsinclude

wherethelatter,whichisimmediatefromtherecursionformula,expressestheLegendrepolynomialsbysimplemonomials
andinvolvesthemultiplicativeformulaofthebinomialcoefficient.

ThefirstfewLegendrepolynomialsare:

Thegraphsofthesepolynomials(upton=5)areshownbelow:

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Orthogonality
AnimportantpropertyoftheLegendrepolynomialsisthattheyareorthogonalwithrespecttotheL2normontheinterval
1x1:

(wheremndenotestheKroneckerdelta,equalto1ifm=nandto0otherwise).Infact,analternativederivationofthe
LegendrepolynomialsisbycarryingouttheGramSchmidtprocessonthepolynomials{1,x,x2,...}withrespecttothis
innerproduct.ThereasonforthisorthogonalitypropertyisthattheLegendredifferentialequationcanbeviewedasaSturm
Liouvilleproblem,wheretheLegendrepolynomialsareeigenfunctionsofaHermitiandifferentialoperator:

wheretheeigenvaluecorrespondston(n+1).

ApplicationsofLegendrepolynomialsinphysics
TheLegendrepolynomialswerefirstintroducedin1782byAdrienMarieLegendre[3]asthecoefficientsintheexpansionof
theNewtonianpotential

where and arethelengthsofthevectors and respectivelyand istheanglebetweenthosetwovectors.Theseries

convergeswhen .TheexpressiongivesthegravitationalpotentialassociatedtoapointmassortheCoulombpotential
associatedtoapointcharge.TheexpansionusingLegendrepolynomialsmightbeuseful,forinstance,whenintegratingthis
expressionoveracontinuousmassorchargedistribution.

LegendrepolynomialsoccurinthesolutionofLaplace'sequationofthestaticpotential,
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LegendrepolynomialsoccurinthesolutionofLaplace'sequationofthestaticpotential, ,inachargefreeregion
ofspace,usingthemethodofseparationofvariables,wheretheboundaryconditionshaveaxialsymmetry(nodependenceon
anazimuthalangle).Where istheaxisofsymmetryand istheanglebetweenthepositionoftheobserverandthe axis
(thezenithangle),thesolutionforthepotentialwillbe

and aretobedeterminedaccordingtotheboundaryconditionofeachproblem.[4]

TheyalsoappearwhensolvingSchrdingerequationinthreedimensionsforacentralforce.

Legendrepolynomialsinmultipoleexpansions

Legendrepolynomialsarealsousefulinexpandingfunctionsoftheform(this
isthesameasbefore,writtenalittledifferently):

whicharisenaturallyinmultipoleexpansions.Thelefthandsideofthe
equationisthegeneratingfunctionfortheLegendrepolynomials.

Asanexample,theelectricpotential (insphericalcoordinates)dueto
apointchargelocatedonthezaxisat (Figure2)varieslike

Figure2
IftheradiusroftheobservationpointPisgreaterthana,thepotentialmaybe
expandedintheLegendrepolynomials

wherewehavedefined=a/r<1andx=cos.Thisexpansionisusedtodevelopthenormalmultipoleexpansion.

Conversely,iftheradiusroftheobservationpointPissmallerthana,thepotentialmaystillbeexpandedintheLegendre
polynomialsasabove,butwithaandrexchanged.Thisexpansionisthebasisofinteriormultipoleexpansion.

Legendrepolynomialsintrigonometry

Thetrigonometricfunctions ,alsodenotedastheChebyshevpolynomials ,canalsobemultipole

expandedbytheLegendrepolynomials .Thefirstseveralordersareasfollows:

Anotherpropertyistheexpressionfor ,whichis

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AdditionalpropertiesofLegendrepolynomials
Legendrepolynomialsaresymmetricorantisymmetric,thatis
[5]

Sincethedifferentialequationandtheorthogonalitypropertyareindependentofscaling,theLegendrepolynomials'
definitionsare"standardized"(sometimescalled"normalization",butnotethattheactualnormisnotunity)bybeingscaled
sothat

Thederivativeattheendpointisgivenby

Asdiscussedabove,theLegendrepolynomialsobeythethreetermrecurrencerelationknownasBonnetsrecursionformula

and

UsefulfortheintegrationofLegendrepolynomialsis

Fromtheaboveonecanseealsothat

orequivalently

where isthenormovertheinterval1x1

FromBonnetsrecursionformulaoneobtainsbyinductiontheexplicitrepresentation

TheAskeyGasperinequalityforLegendrepolynomialsreads

AsumofLegendrepolynomialsisrelatedtotheDiracdeltafunctionfor and
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TheLegendrepolynomialsofascalarproductofunitvectorscanbeexpandedwithsphericalharmonicsusing

wheretheunitvectorsrandr'havesphericalcoordinates and ,respectively.

Asymptoticallyfor forargumentslessthanunity

andforargumentsgreaterthanunity

where and areBesselfunctions.

ShiftedLegendrepolynomials
TheshiftedLegendrepolynomialsaredefinedas .Herethe"shifting"function (infact,
itisanaffinetransformation)ischosensuchthatitbijectivelymapstheinterval[0,1]totheinterval[1,1],implyingthatthe
polynomials areorthogonalon[0,1]:

AnexplicitexpressionfortheshiftedLegendrepolynomialsisgivenby

TheanalogueofRodrigues'formulafortheshiftedLegendrepolynomialsis

ThefirstfewshiftedLegendrepolynomialsare:

Legendrefunctionsofthesecondkind
Aswellaspolynomialsolutions,theLegendreequationhasnonpolynomialsolutionsrepresentedbyinfiniteseries.Theseare
theLegendrefunctionsofthesecondkind,denotedby .

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Thedifferentialequation

hasthegeneralsolution

whereAandBareconstants.

Legendrefunctionsoffractionaldegree
Legendrefunctionsoffractionaldegreeexistandfollowfrominsertionoffractionalderivativesasdefinedbyfractional
calculusandnonintegerfactorials(definedbythegammafunction)intotheRodrigues'formula.Theresultingfunctions
continuetosatisfytheLegendredifferentialequationthroughout(1,1),butarenolongerregularattheendpoints.The
0
fractionaldegreeLegendrefunctionPnagreeswiththeassociatedLegendrepolynomialPn.

Seealso
AssociatedLegendrepolynomials
Gaussianquadrature
Gegenbauerpolynomials
Legendrerationalfunctions
Turn'sinequalities
Legendrewavelet
Jacobipolynomials
Romanovskipolynomials
SphericalHarmonics

Notes
1.Courant&Hilbert1953,II,8
2.Arfken&Weber2005,p.743
3.M.LeGendre,"Recherchessurl'attractiondessphrodeshomognes,"MmoiresdeMathmatiquesetdePhysique,prsents
l'AcadmieRoyaledesSciences,pardiverssavans,etlusdanssesAssembles,TomeX,pp.411435(Paris,1785).[Note:Legendre
submittedhisfindingstotheAcademyin1782,buttheywerepublishedin1785.]Availableonline(inFrench)at:
http://edocs.ub.unifrankfurt.de/volltexte/2007/3757/pdf/A009566090.pdf.
4.Jackson,J.D.ClassicalElectrodynamics,3rdedition,Wiley&Sons,1999.page103
5.Arfken&Weber2005,p.753

References
Abramowitz,MiltonStegun,IreneAnn,eds.(1983)[June1964]."Chapter8".HandbookofMathematicalFunctions
withFormulas,Graphs,andMathematicalTables.AppliedMathematicsSeries.55(Ninthreprintwithadditional
correctionsoftenthoriginalprintingwithcorrections(December1972)firsted.).WashingtonD.C.NewYork:United
StatesDepartmentofCommerce,NationalBureauofStandardsDoverPublications.pp.332,773.ISBN048661272
4.LCCN6460036.MR0167642.ISBN9780486612720.LCCN6512253.Seealsochapter22(http://www.math.
sfu.ca/~cbm/aands/page_773.htm).
Arfken,GeorgeB.Weber,HansJ.(2005),MathematicalMethodsforPhysicists,ElsevierAcademicPress,ISBN012
0598760.
Bayin,S.S.(2006),MathematicalMethodsinScienceandEngineering,Wiley,Chapter2.
Belousov,S.L.(1962),TablesofnormalizedassociatedLegendrepolynomials,Mathematicaltables,18,Pergamon
Press.
Courant,RichardHilbert,David(1953),MethodsofMathematicalPhysics,Volume1,NewYork:Interscience
Publischer,Inc.
Dunster,T.M.(2010),"LegendreandRelatedFunctions",inOlver,FrankW.J.Lozier,DanielM.Boisvert,Ronald
F.Clark,CharlesW.,NISTHandbookofMathematicalFunctions,CambridgeUniversityPress,ISBN978
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0521192255,MR2723248
Koornwinder,TomH.Wong,RoderickS.C.Koekoek,RoelofSwarttouw,RenF.(2010),"Orthogonal
Polynomials",inOlver,FrankW.J.Lozier,DanielM.Boisvert,RonaldF.Clark,CharlesW.,NISTHandbookof
MathematicalFunctions,CambridgeUniversityPress,ISBN9780521192255,MR2723248
RefaatElAttar(2009),LegendrePolynomialsandFunctions,CreateSpace,ISBN9781441490124

Externallinks
AquickinformalderivationoftheLegendrepolynomialinthecontextofthe
WikimediaCommonshas
quantummechanicsofhydrogen(http://www.physics.drexel.edu/~tim/open/hyd
mediarelatedtoLegendre
rofin) polynomials.
Hazewinkel,Michiel,ed.(2001),"Legendrepolynomials",Encyclopediaof
Mathematics,Springer,ISBN9781556080104
WolframMathWorldentryonLegendrepolynomials(http://mathworld.wolfram.com/LegendrePolynomial.html)
ModuleforLegendrePolynomialsbyJohnH.Mathews(http://math.fullerton.edu/mathews/n2003/LegendrePolyMod.h
tml)
DrJamesB.Calvert'sarticleonLegendrepolynomialsfromhispersonalcollectionofmathematics(http://www.du.ed
u/~jcalvert/math/legendre.htm)
TheLegendrePolynomialsbyCarlyleE.Moore(http://www.morehouse.edu/facstaff/cmoore/Legendre%20Polynomial
s.htm)
LegendrePolynomialsfromHyperphysics(http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/math/legend.html)

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Categories: Specialhypergeometricfunctions Orthogonalpolynomials Polynomials

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