The subject of special functions is often presented as a collection of disparate results, rarely organized in a coherent way. This book emphasizes general principles that unify and demarcate the subjects of study. The authors' main goals are to provide clear motivation, efficient proofs, and original references for all of the principal results. The book covers standard material, but also much more. It shows how much of the subject can be traced back to two equations - the hypergeometric equation and confluent hypergeometric equation - and it details the ways in which these equations are canonical and special. There is extended coverage of orthogonal polynomials, including connections to approximation theory, continued fractions, and the moment problem, as well as an introduction to new asymptotic methods. There are also chapters on Meijer G-functions and elliptic functions. The final chapter introduces Painlevé transcendents, which have been termed the 'special functions of the twenty-
This self-contained text, suitable for advanced undergraduates, provides an extensive introduction to mathematical analysis, from the fundamentals to more advanced material. It begins with the properties of the real numbers and continues with a rigorous treatment of sequences, series, metric spaces, and calculus in one variable. Further subjects include Lebesgue measure and integration on the line, Fourier analysis, and differential equations. In addition to this core material, the book includes a number of interesting applications of the subject matter to areas both within and outside the field of mathematics. The aim throughout is to strike a balance between being too austere or too sketchy, and being so detailed as to obscure the essential ideas. A large number of examples and 500 exercises allow the reader to test understanding, practise mathematical exposition and provide a window into further topics.
The subject of special functions is often presented as a collection of disparate results, which are rarely organised in a coherent way. This book answers the need for a different approach to the subject. The authors' main goals are to emphasise general unifying principles coherently and to provide clear motivation, efficient proofs, and original references for all of the principal results. The book covers standard material, but also much more, including chapters on discrete orthogonal polynomials and elliptic functions. The authors show how a very large part of the subject traces back to two equations - the hypergeometric equation and the confluent hypergeometric equation - and describe the various ways in which these equations are canonical and special. Providing ready access to theory and formulas, this book serves as an ideal graduate-level textbook as well as a convenient reference.
This book is a text on mathematical analysis suitable for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. It provides an extensive introduction to proof and to rigorous mathematical thinking. It contai