Special functions

Functions with established international notations are the sine (${\displaystyle \sin }$), cosine (${\displaystyle \cos }$), exponential function (${\displaystyle \exp }$), and error function (${\displaystyle \operatorname {erf} }$ or ${\displaystyle \operatorname {erfc} }$).

Some special functions have several notations:

• The natural logarithm may be denoted ${\displaystyle \ln }$, ${\displaystyle \log }$, ${\displaystyle \log _{e}}$, or ${\displaystyle \operatorname {Log} }$ depending on the context.
• The tangent function may be denoted ${\displaystyle \tan }$, ${\displaystyle \operatorname {Tan} }$, or ${\displaystyle \operatorname {tg} }$ (${\displaystyle \operatorname {tg} }$ is used in several European languages).
• Arctangent may be denoted ${\displaystyle \arctan }$, ${\displaystyle \operatorname {atan} }$, ${\displaystyle \operatorname {arctg} }$, or ${\displaystyle \tan ^{-1}}$.
• The Bessel functions may be denoted
  • ${\displaystyle J_{n}(x),}$
  • ${\displaystyle \operatorname {besselj} (n,x),}$
  • ${\displaystyle {\rm {BesselJ}}[n,x].}$

Subscripts are often used to indicate arguments, typically integers. In a few cases, the semicolon (;) or even backslash (\) is used as a separator. In this case, the translation to algorithmic languages admits ambiguity and may lead to confusion.

Superscripts may indicate not only exponentiation, but modification of a function. Examples (particularly with trigonometric and hyperbolic functions) include:

• ${\displaystyle \cos ^{3}(x)}$ usually means ${\displaystyle (\cos(x))^{3}}$
• ${\displaystyle \cos ^{2}(x)}$ is typically ${\displaystyle (\cos(x))^{2}}$, but never ${\displaystyle \cos(\cos(x))}$
• ${\displaystyle \cos ^{-1}(x)}$ usually means ${\displaystyle \arccos(x)}$, not ${\displaystyle (\cos(x))^{-1}}$; this one typically causes the most confusion, since the meaning of this superscript is inconsistent with the others.

Most special functions are considered as a function of a complex variable. They are analytic; the singularities and cuts are described; the differential and integral representations are known and the expansion to the Taylor series or asymptotic series are available. In addition, sometimes there exist relations with other special functions; a complicated special function can be expressed in terms of simpler functions. Various representations can be used for the evaluation; the simplest way to evaluate a function is to expand it into a Taylor series. However, such representation may converge slowly or not at all. In algorithmic languages, rational approximations are typically used, although they may behave badly in the case of complex argument(s).

While trigonometry and exponential functions were systematized and unified by the eighteenth century, the search for a complete and unified theory of special functions has continued since the nineteenth century. The high point of special function theory in 1800–1900 was the theory of elliptic functions; treatises that were essentially complete, such as that of Tannery and Molk,[3] expounded all the basic identities of the theory using techniques from analytic function theory (based on complex analysis). The end of the century also saw a very detailed discussion of spherical harmonics.

While pure mathematicians sought a broad theory deriving as many as possible of the known special functions from a single principle, for a long time the special functions were the province of applied mathematics. Applications to the physical sciences and engineering determined the relative importance of functions. Before electronic computation, the importance of a special function was affirmed by the laborious computation of extended tables of values for ready look-up, as for the familiar logarithm tables. (Babbage's difference engine was an attempt to compute such tables.) For this purpose, the main techniques are:

• numerical analysis, the discovery of infinite series or other analytical expressions allowing rapid calculation; and
• reduction of as many functions as possible to the given function.

More theoretical questions include: asymptotic analysis; analytic continuation and monodromy in the complex plane; and symmetry principles and other structural equations.

The twentieth century saw several waves of interest in special function theory. The classic Whittaker and Watson (1902) textbook[4] sought to unify the theory using complex analysis; the G. N. Watson tome A Treatise on the Theory of Bessel Functions pushed the techniques as far as possible for one important type, including asymptotic results.

The later Bateman Manuscript Project, under the editorship of Arthur Erdélyi, attempted to be encyclopedic, and came around the time when electronic computation was coming to the fore and tabulation ceased to be the main issue.

The modern theory of orthogonal polynomials is of a definite but limited scope. Hypergeometric series, observed by Felix Klein to be important in astronomy and mathematical physics,[5] became an intricate theory, in need of later conceptual arrangement. Lie groups, and in particular their representation theory, explain what a spherical function can be in general; from 1950 onwards substantial parts of classical theory could be recast in terms of Lie groups. Further, work on algebraic combinatorics also revived interest in older parts of the theory. Conjectures of Ian G. Macdonald helped to open up large and active new fields with the typical special function flavour. Difference equations have begun to take their place besides differential equations as a source for special functions.

• Andrews, George E.; Askey, Richard; Roy, Ranjan (1999). Special functions. Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications. Vol. 71. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-62321-6. MR 1688958.
• Terras, Audrey (2016). Harmonic analysis on symmetric spaces – Higher rank spaces, positive definite matrix space and generalizations (second ed.). Springer Nature. ISBN 978-1-4939-3406-5. MR 3496932.
• Whittaker, E. T.; Watson, G. N. (1996-09-13). A Course of Modern Analysis. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58807-2.