Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 29, 2026

Q-Racah polynomials

In mathematics, the q-Racah polynomials are a family of basic hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials in the basic Askey scheme, introduced by Askey & Wilson (1979). Roelof Koekoek, Peter A. Lesky, and René F. Swarttouw give a detailed list of their properties.

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In mathematics, the q-Racah polynomials are a family of basic hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials in the basic Askey scheme, introduced by Askey & Wilson (1979). Roelof Koekoek, Peter A. Lesky, and René F. Swarttouw (2010, 14) give a detailed list of their properties.

Definition

The polynomials are given in terms of basic hypergeometric functions and the Pochhammer symbol by

p n ( q x + q x + 1 c d ; a , b , c , d ; q ) = 4 ϕ 3 [ q n a b q n + 1 q x q x + 1 c d a q b d q c q ; q ; q ] {\displaystyle p_{n}(q^{-x}+q^{x+1}cd;a,b,c,d;q)={}_{4}\phi _{3}\left[{\begin{matrix}q^{-n}&abq^{n+1}&q^{-x}&q^{x+1}cd\\aq&bdq&cq\\\end{matrix}};q;q\right]}

They are sometimes given with changes of variables as

W n ( x ; a , b , c , N ; q ) = 4 ϕ 3 [ q n a b q n + 1 q x c q x n a q b c q q N ; q ; q ] {\displaystyle W_{n}(x;a,b,c,N;q)={}_{4}\phi _{3}\left[{\begin{matrix}q^{-n}&abq^{n+1}&q^{-x}&cq^{x-n}\\aq&bcq&q^{-N}\\\end{matrix}};q;q\right]}

Relation to other polynomials

q-Racah polynomials→Racah polynomials

References

References