Legendre polynomials are a sequence of orthogonal polynomials that arise in solving problems in physics and engineering, particularly in potential theory and quantum mechanics. They are defined on the interval and are denoted by , where is a non-negative integer. The polynomials can be generated using the recurrence relation:
These polynomials exhibit several important properties, such as orthogonality with respect to the weight function :
Legendre polynomials also play a critical role in the expansion of functions in terms of series and in solving partial differential equations, particularly in spherical coordinates, where they appear as solutions to Legendre's differential equation.
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