Write a nonterminating parity series as , where or . Its recurrence relation is
The ratio test applied to its nonzero successive terms has limiting absolute ratio . Hence the series converges absolutely for and diverges for , with
At , the limiting ratio is one, so the basic ratio test alone is inconclusive. Retain the next term of the ratio instead:
For large the ratio is positive. Taking logarithms and summing gives ; the remainders have a finite sum. Thus eventually. Comparison with the convergent p-series proves absolute convergence at both endpoints as well:
The radius of convergence one is the distance from the expansion point to the nearest singular points of a differential equation, . Convergence of function values at those points does not make the solutions analytic there; endpoint derivatives can diverge. The terminating Chebyshev polynomial is an exception with infinite radius of convergence. For example, at the other solution is , whose endpoint values are finite while its first derivative diverges.
For the normalized second-order linear differential equation , an ordinary point has analytic near . At a regular singular point, which is not ordinary, and are analytic. Ordinary points admit two independent convergent power series solutions. Regular singular points instead call for the Frobenius method, which permits leading powers and, in some cases, logarithms.
Here zero is an ordinary point. Substitute into the Hermite differential equation and equate coefficients:
The even and odd initial coefficients are independent, giving
These are the power series solutions of the Hermite differential equation, with the present parameter equal to twice the parameter in that article. The ratio of successive terms within each nonterminating parity is asymptotically , so both series have infinite radius of convergence.
For a nonzero polynomial of degree , its highest coefficient in forces . Conversely at that value the matching parity terminates. Hence
The polynomial solutions are scalar multiples of the Hermite polynomials. Two examples are ; direct substitution verifies both. The other independent solution generally remains nonpolynomial.
The coefficients in the Taylor series are
For either series, the ratio test gives absolute term ratio or , tending to zero for each fixed real or complex . Both have infinite radius of convergence.
The product rule gives and . Substituting in the Schrödinger equation cancels the and constant terms, leaving the Hermite differential equation
For , matching coefficients gives
The power series solutions of the Hermite differential equation split into independent even and odd series. With initial data and , respectively, their first three terms are
Each nonterminating parity series has infinite radius of convergence: the ratio of successive terms of that parity has magnitude asymptotic to . Their initial data prove linear independence. If a coefficient shown vanishes at a special parameter, the recurrence supplies the terminating series instead.
A nonzero polynomial solution of degree requires , by its highest-degree term, and the recurrence then terminates the matching parity. Thus all possible values are . Up to nonzero scalar multiples, the degree-at-most-three solutions are the Hermite polynomials
Factor . The geometric series gives, for ,
Thus the first three nonzero terms are . If “first three terms” means the coefficients through degree two, that Taylor polynomial is . The distinction matters because the quadratic coefficient vanishes. The nearest singularities are the two nontrivial cube roots of unity, so the radius of convergence is exactly one.
In monic form the Chebyshev differential equation has and . Both are analytic near zero, so it is an ordinary point. At , and are analytic; at , and are analytic. Thus both endpoints are regular singular points.
Insert and equate coefficients. The recurrence relation is
Explicitly the factors are for and for . The lowest equation for forces . For , one may choose to select an even solution, independent of the odd solution. The leading coefficient is free in either chosen parity branch.
For a nonterminating branch the consecutive parity-term ratio tends to . Hence the ratio test gives convergence for , and radius of convergence one. Terminating branches are polynomials with infinite radius. For an integer, choose of the same parity as : the recurrence stops once , producing a degree- Chebyshev polynomial. Normalization at gives all nonzero coefficients through degree three:
Set . Direct differentiation gives , so the equation becomes . For , . A polynomial has finite derivative at , and therefore , forcing . Also , so . For , the transformed solution is affine in and the same derivative condition removes its linear term. Thus
The endpoint values follow by continuity. The finite-derivative condition is what excludes the independent nonpolynomial branch, rather than normalization alone.
Write a second-order linear ordinary differential equation in monic form . At a finite point , an ordinary point has analytic . A singular point is a regular singular point if and extend analytically there. A singular point failing this condition is an irregular singular point. The point at infinity is classified by the reciprocal coordinate .
For the Laguerre differential equation, and . Thus and are analytic at zero, while itself is singular: zero is regular singular. Put . Since and , the transformed equation is
Here is not analytic at zero, so infinity is an irregular singular point, for every real .
For the Frobenius solution, the lowest power has coefficient . Hence the indicial equation is , and equating the remaining powers gives
With the repeated root , the Frobenius series for the Laguerre differential equation obeys
If the series does not terminate, its consecutive term ratio is asymptotic to , so the ratio test gives infinite radius of convergence. It is an entire function, even though the differential equation has a singular coefficient at zero. The repeated indicial root yields only one analytic Frobenius branch; an independent solution generally has a logarithmic term there.
For , the factor stops the recurrence at degree . With its coefficients are , giving the Laguerre polynomials
The same termination argument includes , as required for despite the earlier reference to positive integers.
Summing the geometric series gives
There is a particularly short verification using the product rule:
Also and . The radius of convergence of the series is one, set by the three complex cube roots of unity; the closed expression continues the solution beyond that disk wherever its denominator is nonzero. The real initial-value solution extends on the interval .
The origin is an ordinary point. Substitute into the equation and collect the coefficient of :
Hence the recurrence relation is
There are two free initial coefficients. The independent even and odd power series begin
The general solution is . As a useful independent check, the substitution reduces the equation to . Thus
For a nonterminating parity series, , so the ratio test in gives . The regular singular points at explain the natural obstruction.
There is an important exception to an unconditional radius-one answer. If for an integer , the series of parity terminates at degree and is a multiple of a Chebyshev polynomial. Its radius of convergence is ; the other independent parity solution still has radius one. For the even solution is constant. Any nonzero combination containing the nonterminating solution has radius one. These are the full power series of the Chebyshev differential equation, including the terminating cases.
Put . Factor out the nonzero constant in the denominator and use the geometric series:
This Taylor series converges when . The simple pole at is the only finite obstruction to analyticity, whose distance from the expansion centre is five. Hence the radius of convergence is
Use a Frobenius solution , with . The lowest power has coefficient , giving the indicial equation
For , matching the coefficient of gives
For both candidate exponents the cancelled factor is nonzero in this range, so the recurrence is
With , the exponent-zero solution is
For , the coefficients are , giving
The ratio test gives infinite radius of convergence for both series factors, since the successive ratios in magnitude are and . The second full solution still needs a square-root branch in the complex plane; on it is a real solution. The distinct leading behaviors and prove linear independence.
For an independent closed-form check on the structure, put . The equation becomes , a Kummer differential equation with equal parameters. Its exponential reduction of a confluent hypergeometric equation with equal parameters explains the elementary first solution and the branched companion.
Differentiate the power series term by term inside its radius of convergence, and reindex the second derivative so that every coefficient multiplies . The differential equation becomes
The uniqueness of power-series coefficients gives
The even coefficients depend only on and the odd coefficients only on . These are the two local solution branches of the Legendre differential equation around its ordinary point .
For nonzero , the coefficients satisfy , so the analytic power series has radius of convergence . It converges absolutely also at , by comparison with .
The real logarithm in the prescribed solution requires . Consequently
The series and the function itself have finite limits at ; in fact the logarithmic companion tends to . Its derivatives are singular there, so convergence of its values at the endpoint does not make it a classical solution through that singular point of a differential equation. At the logarithmic branch diverges. The independent analytic solution is a polynomial and has no such convergence restriction.
For , multiply the absolutely convergent Taylor series of the sine by the geometric series:
The product is odd, so all even coefficients vanish. Collecting the coefficient of gives
For example, the first terms are . The denominator vanishes at , and the numerator is nonzero there, so these are genuine simple poles. Therefore is the radius of convergence.
If , factor out and use the geometric series:
Thus
The radius of convergence is the distance to the nearest singularity, the simple pole at . The case must be treated separately: the function is , has no Taylor series about zero and is already its own Laurent series on .
For the larger indicial root , the recurrence in part (b) becomes
No factor being cancelled is zero in this range, so
Thus the resulting Frobenius solution is
There is exactly one free parameter, , setting the overall scale. The analytic series factor has radius of convergence one. For a real-valued expression take ; a complex version requires a local square-root branch.
Apply the Cauchy-Hadamard theorem to the power series coefficients for :
For example, taking logarithms gives . Therefore
Any convention for the isolated coefficient has no effect on the radius of convergence.
Put and . Partial fraction decomposition gives
Both terms admit a geometric series at . The local Laurent series is actually a Taylor series, since the center is regular:
The nearest pole is , a distance from the center; the other pole is at distance . Thus the requested local radius of convergence is .
For completeness, specifying a Laurent series without a region can also mean either of the other maximal annuli. Expanding the first fraction in inverse powers and the second in positive powers gives
Expanding both fractions in inverse powers instead gives
These are different Laurent series on different annuli, rather than extensions of the local Taylor series beyond its radius of convergence.