Special Functions

George E. Andrews, Richard Askey, Ranjan Roy - Collection Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications

663 pages, parution le 27/09/2004

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Résumé

Special functions, natural generalizations of the elementary functions, have been studied for centuries. The greatest mathematicians, among them Euler, Gauss, Legendre, Eisenstein, Riemann, and Ramanujan, have laid the foundations for this beautiful and useful area of mathematics. For instance, Euler found the gamma function, which extends the factorial. The Bessel functions and Legendre polynomials play a role in three dimensions similar to the role of sine and cosine in two dimensions.

This treatise presents an overview of special functions, focusing primarily on hypergeometric functions and the associated hypergeometric series, including Bessel functions and classical orthogonal polynomials. The basic building block of the functions studied in this book is the gamma function. In addition to relatively new work on gamma and beta functions, such as Selberg's multi-dimensional integrals, a number of important but relatively unknown nineteenth century results are included.

The authors discuss Wilson's beta integral and the associated orthogonal polynomials. Some g-extensions of beta integrals and of hypergeometric series are presented with Bailey chains employed to derive some results. An introduction to spherical harmonies and applications of special functions to combinatorial problems are included. The book also deals with finite field versions of some beta integrals.

The authors provide organizing ideas, motivation, and historical background for the study and application of some important special functions. This clearly expressed and readable work can serve as a learning tool and lasting reference for students and researchers in special functions, mathematical physics, differential equations, mathematical Computing, number theory, and combinatorics.

L'auteur - George E. Andrews

is Evan Pugh Professor of Mathematics at the Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of many books in mathematics, including The Theory o/Partitions (Cambridge University Press). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2003, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (USA).

Sommaire

The Gamma and Beta functions
The hypergeometric functions
Hypergeometric transformations and identities
Bessel functions and confluent hypergeometric functions
Orthogonal polynomials
Special orthogonal transformations
Topics in orthogonal polynomials
The Selberg integral and its applications
Spherical harmonics
Introduction to q-series
Partitions
Bailey chains

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	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Cambridge University Press
Auteur(s)	George E. Andrews, Richard Askey, Ranjan Roy
Collection	Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications
Parution	27/09/2004
Nb. de pages	663
Format	15,5 x 23,5
Couverture	Broché
Poids	933g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780521789882
ISBN13	978-0-521-78988-2