Divide the equation by to obtain its Sturm-Liouville form:
Thus , and . For , the Lagrange identity for a Sturm-Liouville operator gives the endpoint form . A natural self-adjoint choice is
Under , these become the ordinary zero-derivative conditions at for . They therefore define the realization whose Neumann eigenfunctions of the Chebyshev differential operator are , with .
Boundedness alone does not choose these endpoint conditions: is also bounded but generally has a nonzero endpoint value of . Requiring bounded is a sufficient stronger regularity condition for the displayed zero-flux limits. Other self-adjoint endpoint choices are possible; the boundary form and the operator domain must specify which is intended.
Use the weighted inner product with positive weight . For a self-adjoint operator and nonzero eigenfunction , self-adjointness gives . The positive norm therefore forces to be real. For two eigenfunctions of distinct eigenvalues, the same calculation gives , proving their orthogonality.
The Chebyshev differential equation takes the Sturm-Liouville form
Its operator is , so as required. For , direct substitution gives . Comparing coefficients yields
Explicitly, using ,
The endpoints are singular because vanishes and diverges there. The polynomial solutions use the natural condition at each end; under these are the Neumann eigenfunctions of the Chebyshev differential operator, proportional to . They differ from the zero-value endpoint realization of the same differential expression.