Sturm-Liouville eigenfunctions expressed in determinant form
Contributors: Latta, Gordon, 1923-
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from the National Technical Information Service
Published: 1991
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 53
Description: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and establish Sturm- Liouville properties for special eigenfunctions which are expressed in determinant form. In particular, a special case is presented where the elements of the determinant are Legendre polynomials. This type of determinant has a probability background dealing in birth and death processes. The method of analysis used in this thesis is a new approach to solving this specific example. This investigation involves systems of differential equations and Prufer's analysis in the phase plane. The following are new results obtained in addition to solving the special case mentioned above. Special determinants of hypergeometric functions also possess Sturm-Liouville properties. As a special case, a different proof of Turan's Inequality is provided. Finally, several theorems are presented for Sturm-Liouville systems of differential equations with polynomial coefficients.
Notes: Thesis advisor, G.E. Latta.

ADA245991

Thesis (M.S. in Applied Mathematics) Naval Postgraduate School,   June 1991.

Includes bibliographical references.