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I have 2 rules of recursive relation of the derivative, I want to use it several times get the higher derivative on [\Theta] of P[\[Theta],n,m] only expressed by P[\[Theta], n, m] and P[\[Theta], n-1, m]. (Yes, P is Associated Legendre polynomials here)

This is my rule (Sorry, I don't know how to wrap this long line of code):

rule1 = D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], i}] :> D[D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], i - 1}], {\[Theta], 1}];(*i>=2*) rule2 = D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], 1}] :> 1/Sin[\[Theta]] (n Cos[\[Theta]]*P[\[Theta], n, m] - (n + m) P[\[Theta], n - 1, m]); rule = {rule1, rule2};

Then I use this first code and it return the needed result.

D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], 1}] //. rule

However, the higher derivative on [\Theta] canot work. How to the let it works?

D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], 2}] //. rule (* return with calcuation *)

We can make rule 1 execute first, consider rule 2 during the compute, and repeat the process to get what I want. But how to implement it in code?

Another try (Try these two rules in each calculation step) :

r1 = D[P[\[Theta], n_, m], {\[Theta], 1}] :> (1/Sin[\[Theta]] (n Cos[\[Theta]]*P[\[Theta], n, m] - (n + m) P[\[Theta], n - 1, m])); r2 = D[P[\[Theta], n_, m], {\[Theta], i_}] :> (D[D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], i - 1}] /. r1, \[Theta] ] /. r1);(*i>=2*) D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], 2}] /. r2 (* Out contains P[\[Theta], -2 + n, m], This is not what you want to see *) D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], 3}] /. r2 (* Nothing changed *)
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1 Answer 1

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Your problem is that MMA simplifies the exprerssion D[D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], i - 1}], {\[Theta], 1}]at once to D[P[\[Theta], n, m], {\[Theta], i}]. And you are where you started. To prevent this, we may formulate it in a recursive way. E.g.:

Clear["Global`*"] p[1] = 1/ Sin[\[Theta]] (n Cos[\[Theta]]* P[\[Theta], n, m] - (n + m) P[\[Theta], n - 1, m]) p[i_] := D[p[i - 1], \[Theta]];

Now with this we get e.g.:

p[2]

enter image description here

Or

p[3]

enter image description here

A new editon base on the previous method

ClearAll[f]; f[1,n_,m_,\[Theta]_]:=1/Sin[\[Theta]] (n Cos[\[Theta]]*f[0,n,m,\ [Theta]]-(n+m)f[0,n-1,m,\[Theta]]);(*Eq.(8) at https://mathworld.wolfram.com/AssociatedLegendrePolynomial.html*) f[j_,n_,m_,\[Theta]_]:=FullSimplify@((D[f[j-1,n,m,\[Theta]],\ [Theta]])//.{ (*(f^(0,0,0,1))[j-2,n,m,\[Theta]]:>f[j-1,n,m,\[Theta]], (f^(0,0,0,1))[j-2,-1+n,m,\[Theta]]:>f[j-1,-1+n,m,\[Theta]],*) (f^(0,0,0,1))[0,n,m,\[Theta]]:>f[1,n,m,\[Theta]], (f^(0,0,0,1))[0,-1+n,m,\[Theta]]:>f[1,-1+n,m,\[Theta]], f[0,-2+n,m,\[Theta]]:>((-1+2 n) Cos[\[Theta]] f[0,-1+n,m,\[Theta]]+ (m-n)f[0,n,m,\[Theta]])/(-1+m+n) })/;j>=2;

Try

 Table[f[j, n, m, \[Theta]], {j, 0, 4}] // TableForm

The out put is: enter image description here The above code works, but how to simplify them (Are there redundant items in the replacement rule??)?

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you @Daniel Huber. I modeyied your good answer to further simplify the results. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 22, 2023 at 5:23

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