"This new and exciting historical book tells how Euler introduced the idea of orthogonal polynomials and how he combined them with continued fractions, as well as how Brouncker's formula of 1655 can be derived from Euler's efforts in Special Functions and Orthogonal Polynomials. The most interesting applications of this work are discussed, including the great Markoff's Theorem on the Lagrange spectrum, Abel's Theorem on integration in finite terms, Chebyshev's Theory of Orthogonal Polynomials, and very recent advances in Orthogonal Polynomials on the unit circle. As continued fractions become more important again, in part due to their use in finding algorithms in approximation theory, this timely book revives the approach of Wallis, Brouncker and Euler and illustrates the continuing significance of their influence. A translation of Euler's famous paper 'Continued Fractions, Observation' is included as an Addendum."--Publisher's description.

This reference - the proceedings of a research conference held in Loen, Norway - contains information on the analytic theory of continued fractions and their application to moment problems and orthogonal sequences of functions. Uniting the research efforts of many international experts, this volume: treats strong moment problems, orthogonal polynomials and Laurent polynomials; analyses sequences of linear fractional transformations; presents convergence results, including truncation error bounds; considers discrete distributions and limit functions arising from indeterminate moment problems; discusses Szego polynomials and their applications to frequency analysis; describes the quadrature formula arising from q-starlike functions; and covers continued fractional representations for functions related to the gamma function.;This resource is intended for mathematical and numerical analysts; applied mathematicians; physicists; chemists; engineers; and upper-level undergraduate and agraduate students in these disciplines.

"This concise introduction covers general elementary theory related to orthogonal polynomials and assumes only a first undergraduate course in real analysis. Topics include the representation theorem and distribution functions, continued fractions and chain sequences, the recurrence formula and properties of orthogonal polynomials, special functions, and some specific systems of orthogonal polynomials. 1978 edition"--

Besides their well-known value in number theory, continued fractions are also a useful tool in modern numerical applications and computer science. The goal of the book is to revisit the almost forgotten classical theory and to contextualize it for contemporary numerical applications and signal processing, thus enabling students and scientist to apply classical mathematics on recent problems. The books tries to be mostly self-contained and to make the material accessible for all interested readers. This provides a new view from an applied perspective, combining the classical recursive techniques of continued fractions with orthogonal problems, moment problems, Prony’s problem of sparse recovery and the design of stable rational filters, which are all connected by continued fractions.

We address the question of recovering the distribution function of a set of orthogonal polynomials from the three term recurrence relation satisfied by the polynomials. We investigate four sets of orthogonal polynomials: the Al-Salam-Chihara polynomials, random walk polynomials and their [italic]q-analogue, and the case [italic]q = -1 of the associated continuous [italic]q-ultraspherical polynomials. For each polynomial set we obtain generating functions, derive explicit representations as ordinary or basic hypergeometric functions and determine their asymptotic behavior

The general theory of orthogonal polynomials was developed in the late 19th century from a study of continued fractions by P. L. Chebyshev, even though special cases were introduced earlier by Legendre, Hermite, Jacobi, Laguerre, and Chebyshev himself. It was further developed by A. A. Markov, T. J. Stieltjes, and many other mathematicians. The book by Szego, originally published in 1939, is the first monograph devoted to the theory of orthogonal polynomials and its applications in many areas, including analysis, differential equations, probability and mathematical physics. Even after all the years that have passed since the book first appeared, and with many other books on the subject published since then, this classic monograph by Szego remains an indispensable resource both as a textbook and as a reference book. It can be recommended to anyone who wants to be acquainted with this central topic of mathematical analysis.

This volume expands on a set of lectures held at the Courant Institute on Riemann-Hilbert problems, orthogonal polynomials, and random matrix theory. The goal of the course was to prove universality for a variety of statistical quantities arising in the theory of random matrix models. The central question was the following: Why do very general ensembles of random n times n matrices exhibit universal behavior as n > infinity? The main ingredient in the proof is the steepest descent method for oscillatory Riemann-Hilbert problems. Titles in this series are copublished with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.

The history of continued fractions is certainly one of the longest among those of mathematical concepts, since it begins with Euclid's algorithm for the great est common divisor at least three centuries B.C. As it is often the case and like Monsieur Jourdain in Moliere's "Ie bourgeois gentilhomme" (who was speak ing in prose though he did not know he was doing so), continued fractions were used for many centuries before their real discovery. The history of continued fractions and Pade approximants is also quite im portant, since they played a leading role in the development of some branches of mathematics. For example, they were the basis for the proof of the tran scendence of 11' in 1882, an open problem for more than two thousand years, and also for our modern spectral theory of operators. Actually they still are of great interest in many fields of pure and applied mathematics and in numerical analysis, where they provide computer approximations to special functions and are connected to some convergence acceleration methods. Con tinued fractions are also used in number theory, computer science, automata, electronics, etc ...

One of the most authoritative and comprehensive books on the subject of continued fractions, this monograph has been widely used by generations of mathematicians and their students. Dr. Hubert Stanley Wall presents a unified theory correlating certain parts and applications of the subject within a larger analytic structure. Prerequisites include a first course in function theory and knowledge of the elementary properties of linear transformations in the complex plane. Some background in number theory, real analysis, and complex analysis may also prove helpful. The two-part treatment begins with an exploration of convergence theory, addressing continued fractions as products of linear fractional transformations, convergence theorems, and the theory of positive definite continued fractions, as well as other topics. The second part, focusing on function theory, covers the theory of equations, matrix theory of continued fractions, bounded analytic functions, and many additional subjects.

This reference - the proceedings of a research conference held in Loen, Norway - contains information on the analytic theory of continued fractions and their application to moment problems and orthogonal sequences of functions. Uniting the research efforts of many international experts, this volume: treats strong moment problems, orthogonal polynomials and Laurent polynomials; analyses sequences of linear fractional transformations; presents convergence results, including truncation error bounds; considers discrete distributions and limit functions arising from indeterminate moment problems; discusses Szego polynomials and their applications to frequency analysis; describes the quadrature formula arising from q-starlike functions; and covers continued fractional representations for functions related to the gamma function.;This resource is intended for mathematical and numerical analysts; applied mathematicians; physicists; chemists; engineers; and upper-level undergraduate and agraduate students in these disciplines.