Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ib/paper-4/5a/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 4 5A ii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
This subpart is also present in the original PDF but missing from the local TeX. Put and . Multiply the Legendre differential equation for by , multiply the equation for by , and subtract. The product rule givesIntegrating from to , the boundary term vanishes: , and the Legendre polynomials and their derivatives are finite there. For distinct nonnegative integers , . Thus the Orthogonality of Legendre polynomials isThe vanishing coefficient at the endpoints causes no difficulty here because the solutions are polynomials.
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