Orthogonal Polynomials - Examples of Orthogonal Polynomials

Examples of Orthogonal Polynomials

The most commonly used orthogonal polynomials are orthogonal for a measure with support in a real interval. This includes:

• The classical orthogonal polynomials (Jacobi polynomials, Laguerre polynomials, Hermite polynomials, and their special cases Gegenbauer polynomials, Chebyshev polynomials and Legendre polynomials).
• The Wilson polynomials, which generalize the Jacobi polynomials. They include many orthogonal polynomials as special cases, such as the Meixner–Pollaczek polynomials, the continuous Hahn polynomials, the continuous dual Hahn polynomials, and the classical polynomials, described by the Askey scheme
• The Askey–Wilson polynomials introduce an extra parameter q into the Wilson polynomials.

Discrete orthogonal polynomials are orthogonal with respect to some discrete measure. Sometimes the measure has finite support, in which case the family of orthogonal polynomials is finite, rather than an infinite sequence. The Racah polynomials are examples of discrete orthogonal polynomials, and include as special cases the Hahn polynomials and dual Hahn polynomials, which in turn include as special cases the Meixner polynomials, Krawtchouk polynomials, and Charlier polynomials.

Sieved orthogonal polynomials, such as the sieved ultraspherical polynomials, sieved Jacobi polynomials, and sieved Pollaczek polynomials, have modified recurrence relations.

One can also consider orthogonal polynomials for some curve in the complex plane. The most important case (other than real intervals) is when the curve is the unit circle, giving orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle, such as the Rogers–Szegő polynomials.

There are some families of orthogonal polynomials that are orthogonal on plane regions such as triangles or disks. They can sometimes be written in terms of Jacobi polynomials. For example, Zernike polynomials are orthogonal on the unit disk.