Assignment Sheet 3 on Legendre Polynimials MA2020 Dierential Equations (July - November 2012)

1. Using the governing dierential equation of the Legendre polynomials show that
(a) Pn (1) = n(n+1) 2

+1) (b) Pn (1) = (1)n1 n(n2

2. Prove the Rodrigues formula Pn (x) =

r

1 dn (x2 n!2n dxn

1)n
n 2

N (1) (2n2r )! n2N 3. Prove that Pn (x) = where N is r =0 2n r ! (nr )! (n2r )! x ing on n is even or odd

or

n1 2

depend-

4. Prove that (1 2xt + t2 ) 2 = (1 t(2x t)) 2 = (a) Pn (1) = (1)n

n n=0 t

Pn (x)

5. Using the generating function of pn (x), prove the following (b) Pn (x) = (1)n Pn (x) (d) P2m+1 (0) = 0 6. Prove that Pn (0) = 0,
(1)1/2 (n!) , 2n ((n/2)!)2

m)! (c) P2m (0) = (1)m 22(2 m (m!)2

n is odd n is even

7. Prove the following recurrence formulae for Pn (x) (a) (n + 1)Pn+1 (x) = (2n + 1)xPn (x) nPn1 (x)
(c) (2n + 1)Pn (x) = Pn +1 (x) Pn1 (x)

(b) nPn (x) = xPn (x) Pn 1 (x)

(d) Pn (x) = xPn 1 (x) + nPn1 (x)

(e) (1 x2 )Pn (x) = n (Pn1 (x) xPn (x))

8. If Pn () = 0 then Pn1 () and Pn+1 () are of opposite sign 9. Prove the following orthogonal property of the Legendre polynomials Pn (x)
1

Pm (x) Pn (x) dx =
1

0,
2 , 2n+1

m=n m=n

10. Prove the following (a) (b) (c) (d)

1 x2 Pn1 (x) 1 1 2 x2 Pn (x) 1

Pn+1 (x) dx =
1 8(2n1)

2n(n+1) (2n1)(2n+1)(2n+3)

dx =

3 4(2n+1)

1 8(2n+3)

1 P 2 (x) dx = 2 7 1 3 1 2 xPn (x) dx = 0 1

12. Solve (1 x2 )y 2xy + 2y = 0. (Legendre equation with n = 1) 13. Show that the coecient of xn in Pn (x) is (2n)! . 2n (n!)2

11. Solve (1 x2 )y 2xy = 0 (Legendre equation with n = 0). Show that its general solution is y (x) = c1 y1 (x) + c2 y2 (x) with y1 (x) = P0 (x) = 1 and (3)(1)2.4 5 1 1+x 2 y2 (x) = x + x3 + x + ... = ln 3! 5! 2 1x

14. Show that there are constants 0 , 1 , ..., n such that xn = 0 P0 (x) + 1 P1 (x) + ... + n Pn (x) 15. Show that any polynomial of degree n is a linear combination of P0 (x), P1 (x), ..., Pn (x). 16. Find the rst three terms of the Legendre series of 0, 1 x < 0 i) f (x)= ii) f (x)= ex , 1 x 1 x, 0 x 1 17. Let Pn (x) be the Legendre polynomial. Show that m<n 0, 1 m (i) x Pn (x)dx= 2n+1 (n!)2 , m=n 1 (2n + 1)! 2n(n + 1) 1 (ii) (1 x2 )Pn (x)Pn (x)dx = 2n + 1 1 18. The function on the left side of 1 = P0 (x) + P1 (x)t + P2 (x)t2 + ... + Pn (x)tn + ... 2 1 2xt + t

is called the generating function of the Legendre polynomials. Assuming that this relation is true and use it a) To verify that Pn (1) = 1, Pn (1) = (1)n . 1.3...(2n 1) b) P2n+1 (0) = 0, P2n (0) = (1)n 2n (n!) c) Dierentiate (1) with respect to t and show that

(x t)

n=0

Pn (x)tn = (1 2xt + t2 )

nPn (x)tn1
n=1

d) Equate the coecients of tn in (c) and obtain the recurrence relation (n + 1)Pn+1(x) = (2n + 1)xPn (x) nPn1 (x) e) Use recurrence relation in (d) to nd P2 (x), P3 (x), P4 (x) and P5 (x) assuming that P0 (x) = 1, P1 (x) = x. 19. Find the rst few terms of the Fourier-Legendre series. 0, 1 < x < 0 (a) f (x) = cos (x) (b) f (x)= 2 x, 0 < x < 1