Parity of orthogonal polynomials for an even weight

ID: parity-of-orthogonal-polynomials-for-an-even-weight

For a positive even weight on a symmetric interval, any orthogonal polynomial of degree has the parity of . Induct on . The reflected polynomial has the same leading coefficient. By substitution in the weighted inner product and the inductive parity of all lower polynomials, it is orthogonal to them. Hence has lower degree and is orthogonal to the entire space containing it. Its squared norm is zero, forcing . The base case is a constant. This proof needs neither monic nor unit-norm normalization; it only compares polynomials with the same leading coefficient.

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