The Advanced Study Institute brought together researchers in the main areas of special functions and applications to present recent developments in the theory, review the accomplishments of past decades, and chart directions for future research. Some of the topics covered are orthogonal polynomials and special functions in one and several variables, asymptotic, continued fractions, applications to number theory, combinatorics and mathematical physics, integrable systems, harmonic analysis and quantum groups, Painlevé classification.

It was with the publication of Norbert Wiener's book ''The Fourier In tegral and Certain of Its Applications" [165] in 1933 by Cambridge Univer sity Press that the mathematical community came to realize that there is an alternative approach to the study of c1assical Fourier Analysis, namely, through the theory of c1assical orthogonal polynomials. Little would he know at that time that this little idea of his would help usher in a new and exiting branch of c1assical analysis called q-Fourier Analysis. Attempts at finding q-analogs of Fourier and other related transforms were made by other authors, but it took the mathematical insight and instincts of none other then Richard Askey, the grand master of Special Functions and Orthogonal Polynomials, to see the natural connection between orthogonal polynomials and a systematic theory of q-Fourier Analysis. The paper that he wrote in 1993 with N. M. Atakishiyev and S. K Suslov, entitled "An Analog of the Fourier Transform for a q-Harmonic Oscillator" [13], was probably the first significant publication in this area. The Poisson k~rnel for the contin uous q-Hermite polynomials plays a role of the q-exponential function for the analog of the Fourier integral under considerationj see also [14] for an extension of the q-Fourier transform to the general case of Askey-Wilson polynomials. (Another important ingredient of the q-Fourier Analysis, that deserves thorough investigation, is the theory of q-Fourier series.

(Hardcover). This book is written to provide an easy to follow study on the subject of Special Functions and Orthogonal Polynomials. It is written in such a way that it can be used as a self study text. Basic knowledge of calculus and differential equations is needed. The book is intended to help students in engineering, physics and applied sciences understand various aspects of Special Functions and Orthogonal Polynomials that very often occur in engineering, physics, mathematics and applied sciences. The book is organized in chapters that are in a sense self contained. Chapter 1 deals with series solutions of Differential Equations. Gamma and Beta functions are studied in Chapter 2 together with other functions that are defined by integrals. Legendre Polynomials and Functions are studied in Chapter 3. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with Hermite, Laguerre and other Orthogonal Polynomials. A detailed treatise of Bessel Function in given in Chapter 6.

(308 Pages). This book is written to provide an easy to follow study on the subject of Special Functions and Orthogonal Polynomials. It is written in such a way that it can be used as a self study text. Basic knowledge of calculus and differential equations is needed. The book is intended to help students in engineering, physics and applied sciences understand various aspects of Special Functions and Orthogonal Polynomials that very often occur in engineering, physics, mathematics and applied sciences. The book is organized in chapters that are in a sense self contained. Chapter 1 deals with series solutions of Differential Equations. Gamma and Beta functions are studied in Chapter 2 together with other functions that are defined by integrals. Legendre Polynomials and Functions are studied in Chapter 3. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with Hermite, Laguerre and other Orthogonal Polynomials. A detailed treatise of Bessel Function in given in Chapter 6.

A collection of articles on various aspects of q-series and special functions dedicated to Mizan Rahman. It also includes an article by Askey, Ismail, and Koelink on Rahman’s mathematical contributions and how they influenced the recent upsurge in the subject.

Significant revision of classic reference in special functions.

Written by experts in their respective fields, this collection of pedagogic surveys provides detailed insight and background into five separate areas at the forefront of modern research in orthogonal polynomials and special functions at a level suited to graduate students. A broad range of topics are introduced including exceptional orthogonal polynomials, q-series, applications of spectral theory to special functions, elliptic hypergeometric functions, and combinatorics of orthogonal polynomials. Exercises, examples and some open problems are provided. The volume is derived from lectures presented at the OPSF-S6 Summer School at the University of Maryland, and has been carefully edited to provide a coherent and consistent entry point for graduate students and newcomers.