Quiz 10

1. Consider Legendres equation

1 x ddx y 2x dy
l l 1 y 0
dx
2

Determine a power series solution of the form

y

an x n

n 0

To obtain the solution proceed as follows:

dy
of y
dx
d2y

a) Determine the first derivative

b) Determine the second derivative

c) Substitute the series for

d2y
dx

dx 2

of y

dy
, and y in Legendres equation
dx
d2y

d) Evaluate the first two terms in the

dx2

series to obtain the arbitrary constants

e) Obtain the recurrence relation for Legendres equation using

n2

n 0

nn 1an x n2 n 1n 2an2 x n

f) Using the recurrence relation obtain the general solution

y y1 y2

where
l l 1 2 l l 1l 2l 3 4
y1 a0 1
x
x ...
2!
4!

l 1l 2 x3 l 1l 2l 3l 4 x5 ...

y2 a1 x

3!
5!

2. From the solution obtained in Q1. (f) above, determine the expressions of the first two
Legendre polynomials.