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The Method of Frobenius
Hermite's Equation is an equation of the type:
 - 2xy'(x) + 2ny(x) = 0, n \in \mathbb{N}_0)
Construct series solutions (about the origin) for n=1 and n=2.
I tried to solve this generally so I could just plug in n later for any other n's that I may need, but somewhere I may have messed up because my coefficients ended up all being zero for the n=1 series... So, all I need is someone to see if I messed up...
I started off by noting that the equation was in general form and that p(x) and q(x) are both analytical everywhere so x = 0 is a valid point for a convergent series solution.
Next (and this part is where I had my doubts because it is an ordinary point, not a singular one), I took the limits of xp(x) and
and got zero for both. This lead to the roots:
and 
Now, I prepared a generalized solution:
 = x^r\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}a_ix^i=\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}a_ ix^{i+r})
Plugging this into the DE yields:
(i+r)a_ix^{i+r-2} - 2x\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}(i+r)a_ix^{i+r-1} + 2n\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}a_ix^{i+r}=0)
When the x in the second term is distributed, the second and third sum can be added together:
(i+r)a_ix^{i+r-2} - 2(1 - n)\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}(i + r + 1)a_ix^{i+r} = 0)
Next I multiplied through by
to eliminate negative indices:
(i+r)a_ix^{i+r} - 2(1-n)\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}(i+r+1)a_ix^{i+r + 2} = 0)
Then I shifted the indices, the first sum gets the replacement k=i the second one gets k=i+2:
(k+r)a_kx^{k+r} - 2(1-n)\sum_{k=2}^{\infty}(k+r-1)a_{k-2}x^{k+r} = 0)
Then I took out the first two terms of the first sum:
\sum_{k=2}^{\infty}(k+r-1)a_{k-2}x^{k+r} = 0)
Then I combined the two sums:
![a_0[r(r-1)]x^r + a_1[r(1+r)]x^{1+r} + \sum_{k=2}^{\infty}(k+r-1)x^{k+r}[(k+r)a_k - 2(1-n)a_{k-2}] = 0](http://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?a_0[r(r-1)]x^r + a_1[r(1+r)]x^{1+r} + \sum_{k=2}^{\infty}(k+r-1)x^{k+r}[(k+r)a_k - 2(1-n)a_{k-2}] = 0)
Then I set the coefficients equal to 0 and used r = 1:
->
is arbitrary.
-> 
a_k - 2(1-n)a_{k-2} = 0)
a_{k-2}}{(k+1)}, k \geq 2)
Now, when n=1, every coefficient is zero except
so the solution for n=1 is:
 = a_0x)
When n=2, All of the odd numbered coefficients are zero so that the odd number powers remain, and I get:
![y(x) = a_0[x - \frac{2}{3}x^3 + \frac{4}{15}x^5 - \frac{8}{105}x^7 + ...]](http://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?y(x) = a_0[x - \frac{2}{3}x^3 + \frac{4}{15}x^5 - \frac{8}{105}x^7 + ...])
Thanks in advance for any help.
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That equation is NOT singular at any point and you do not need to use
Frobenius' method. Just use a solution of the form
.