Hermite Polynomials - Definition

Definition

There are two different ways of standardizing the Hermite polynomials:

(the "probabilists' Hermite polynomials"), and

(the "physicists' Hermite polynomials"). These two definitions are not exactly equivalent; either is a rescaling of the other, to wit

These are Hermite polynomial sequences of different variances; see the material on variances below.

The notation He and H is that used in the standard references Tom H. Koornwinder, Roderick S. C. Wong, and Roelof Koekoek et al. (2010) and Abramowitz & Stegun. The polynomials Hen are sometimes denoted by Hn, especially in probability theory, because

is the probability density function for the normal distribution with expected value 0 and standard deviation 1.

The first eleven probabilists' Hermite polynomials are:

and the first eleven physicists' Hermite polynomials are:

Read more about this topic:  Hermite Polynomials

Famous quotes containing the word definition:

    It’s a rare parent who can see his or her child clearly and objectively. At a school board meeting I attended . . . the only definition of a gifted child on which everyone in the audience could agree was “mine.”
    Jane Adams (20th century)

    The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.
    William James (1842–1910)

    One definition of man is “an intelligence served by organs.”
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)