Chapter 2: Preliminaries

Chebyshev polynomials

The Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind \(T_N(x)\) are defined by the relation

\begin{equation}...\end{equation}

This uniquely determines \(T_N\) as a polynomial of degree \(N\). The first few Chebyshev polynomials are:

\begin{align*}...\end{align*}
Proposition

The Chebyshev polynomials satisfy the following properties:

  1. Recurrence: \(T_{n+1}(x) = 2xT_n(x) - T_{n-1}(x)\) for \(n \geq 1\). Polynomial.Chebyshev.T_add_two

  2. Leading coefficient: The leading coefficient of \(T_N(x)\) is \(2^{N-1}\) for \(N \geq 1\). chebyshev_T_leadingCoeff

  3. Roots: The roots of \(T_N(x)\) are \begin

    equation

    x_k = \cos\left(\frac

    (2k + 1)\pi

    2N

    \right), \quad k = 0, 1, \ldots, N-1.

chebyshevRoot, chebyshevRootsList, chebyshev_T_eval_chebyshevRoot, chebyshev_T_eval_eq_zero_iff \item Extrema: On \([-1, 1]\), \(T_N\) attains its extremal values \(\pm 1\) at the \(N + 1\) points \(\cos(j\pi/N)\) for \(j = 0, 1, \ldots, N\).

2.1 Chebyshev polynomials

The Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind \(T_N(x)\) are defined by the relation

\begin{equation}...\end{equation}

This uniquely determines \(T_N\) as a polynomial of degree \(N\). The first few Chebyshev polynomials are:

\begin{align*}...\end{align*}
Proposition

The Chebyshev polynomials satisfy the following properties:

  1. Recurrence: \(T_{n+1}(x) = 2xT_n(x) - T_{n-1}(x)\) for \(n \geq 1\). Polynomial.Chebyshev.T_add_two

  2. Leading coefficient: The leading coefficient of \(T_N(x)\) is \(2^{N-1}\) for \(N \geq 1\). chebyshev_T_leadingCoeff

  3. Roots: The roots of \(T_N(x)\) are \begin

    equation

    x_k = \cos\left(\frac

    (2k + 1)\pi

    2N

    \right), \quad k = 0, 1, \ldots, N-1.

chebyshevRoot, chebyshevRootsList, chebyshev_T_eval_chebyshevRoot, chebyshev_T_eval_eq_zero_iff \item Extrema: On \([-1, 1]\), \(T_N\) attains its extremal values \(\pm 1\) at the \(N + 1\) points \(\cos(j\pi/N)\) for \(j = 0, 1, \ldots, N\).