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Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center
LaguerreL
  • See Also
    • HermiteH
    • WhittakerM
    • WhittakerW
    • Hypergeometric1F1
  • Related Guides
    • Special Functions
    • Mathematical Functions
    • Functions Used in Quantum Mechanics
    • Functions for Separable Coordinate Systems
  • Tech Notes
    • Orthogonal Polynomials
    • See Also
      • HermiteH
      • WhittakerM
      • WhittakerW
      • Hypergeometric1F1
    • Related Guides
      • Special Functions
      • Mathematical Functions
      • Functions Used in Quantum Mechanics
      • Functions for Separable Coordinate Systems
    • Tech Notes
      • Orthogonal Polynomials

LaguerreL[n,x]

gives the Laguerre polynomial TemplateBox[{n, x}, LaguerreL].

LaguerreL[n,a,x]

gives the generalized Laguerre polynomial TemplateBox[{n, a, x}, LaguerreL3].

Details
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Numerical Evaluation  
Specific Values  
Visualization  
Show More Show More
Function Properties  
Differentiation  
Integration  
Series Expansions  
Function Identities and Simplifications  
Generalizations & Extensions  
Applications  
Properties & Relations  
Possible Issues  
See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
Related Links
History
Cite this Page
BUILT-IN SYMBOL
  • See Also
    • HermiteH
    • WhittakerM
    • WhittakerW
    • Hypergeometric1F1
  • Related Guides
    • Special Functions
    • Mathematical Functions
    • Functions Used in Quantum Mechanics
    • Functions for Separable Coordinate Systems
  • Tech Notes
    • Orthogonal Polynomials
    • See Also
      • HermiteH
      • WhittakerM
      • WhittakerW
      • Hypergeometric1F1
    • Related Guides
      • Special Functions
      • Mathematical Functions
      • Functions Used in Quantum Mechanics
      • Functions for Separable Coordinate Systems
    • Tech Notes
      • Orthogonal Polynomials

LaguerreL

LaguerreL[n,x]

gives the Laguerre polynomial TemplateBox[{n, x}, LaguerreL].

LaguerreL[n,a,x]

gives the generalized Laguerre polynomial TemplateBox[{n, a, x}, LaguerreL3].

Details

  • Mathematical function, suitable for both symbolic and numerical manipulation.
  • Explicit polynomials are given when possible.
  • TemplateBox[{n, x}, LaguerreL]=TemplateBox[{n, 0, x}, LaguerreL3].
  • The Laguerre polynomials are orthogonal with weight function .
  • They satisfy the differential equation .
  • For certain special arguments, LaguerreL automatically evaluates to exact values.
  • LaguerreL can be evaluated to arbitrary numerical precision.
  • LaguerreL automatically threads over lists.
  • LaguerreL[n,x] is an entire function of x with no branch cut discontinuities.
  • LaguerreL can be used with Interval and CenteredInterval objects. »

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (6)

Compute the 5^(th) Laguerre polynomial:

Compute the associated Laguerre polynomial :

Plot over a subset of the reals:

Plot over a subset of the complexes:

Series expansion at the origin:

Series expansion at Infinity:

Scope  (41)

Numerical Evaluation  (6)

Evaluate numerically:

Evaluate to high precision:

The precision of the output tracks the precision of the input:

Complex number input:

Evaluate efficiently at high precision:

Compute worst-case guaranteed intervals using Interval and CenteredInterval objects:

Or compute average-case statistical intervals using Around:

Compute the elementwise values of an array:

Or compute the matrix LaguerreL function using MatrixFunction:

Specific Values  (5)

Values of LaguerreL at fixed points:

Values at zero:

Find the first positive minimum of LaguerreL[10,x ]:

Compute the associated LaguerreL[7,x] polynomial:

Different LaguerreL types give different symbolic forms:

Visualization  (3)

Plot the LaguerreL polynomial for various orders:

Plot the real part of TemplateBox[{10}, LucasL](z):

Plot the imaginary part of TemplateBox[{10}, LucasL](z):

Plot as real parts of two parameters vary:

Function Properties  (13)

The primary Laguerre function is defined for all real and complex values:

The associated Laguerre function TemplateBox[{n, a, z}, LaguerreL3] has restrictions on and , but not :

TemplateBox[{1, x}, LaguerreL] achieves all real and complex values:

So do all associated TemplateBox[{1, n, x}, LaguerreL3]:

Function range of TemplateBox[{2, x}, LaguerreL]:

LaguerreL has the mirror property :

LaguerreL threads elementwise over lists:

TemplateBox[{n, x}, LaguerreL] is an analytic function of and :

TemplateBox[{n, a, x}, LaguerreL3] is not analytic, but it is meromorphic:

TemplateBox[{1, a, x}, LaguerreL3] is a decreasing function:

TemplateBox[{2, a, x}, LaguerreL3] is neither non-decreasing nor non-increasing:

Laguerre polynomials are not injective for values other than 1:

TemplateBox[{n, a, x}, LaguerreL3] is surjective for odd :

LaguerreL is neither non-negative nor non-positive:

TemplateBox[{n, a, x}, LaguerreL3] has no singularities or discontinuities in :

TemplateBox[{2, a, x}, LaguerreL3] is convex:

TraditionalForm formatting:

Differentiation  (3)

First derivative with respect to x:

Higher derivatives with respect to x:

Plot the higher derivatives with respect to x when n=3:

Formula for the ^(th) derivative with respect to x:

Integration  (3)

Compute the indefinite integral using Integrate:

Definite integral:

More integrals:

Series Expansions  (5)

Find the Taylor expansion using Series:

Plots of the first three approximations around :

General term in the series expansion using SeriesCoefficient:

Find the series expansion at Infinity:

Find series expansion for an arbitrary symbolic direction :

Taylor expansion at a generic point:

Function Identities and Simplifications  (3)

LaguerreL may reduce to simpler form:

Generating function of LaguerreL:

Recurrence identity:

Generalizations & Extensions  (1)

LaguerreL can be applied to a power series:

Applications  (6)

Solve the Laguerre differential equation:

Generalized Fourier series for functions defined on :

Radial wave-function of the hydrogen atom:

Compute the energy eigenvalue from the differential equation:

The energy is independent of the orbital quantum number l:

The number of derangement anagrams for a word with character counts :

Count the number of derangements for the word Mathematica:

Direct count:

Compare the value of the MarcumQ function for large arguments to its asymptotic formula:

Construct an approximation using the central limit theorem:

Evaluate numerically:

An n-point Gauss–Laguerre quadrature rule is based on the roots of the n^(th)-order Laguerre polynomial. Compute the nodes and weights of an n-point Gauss–Laguerre quadrature rule for a given value of :

Use the n-point Gaussian quadrature rule to numerically evaluate an integral:

Compare the result of the Gauss–Laguerre quadrature with the result from NIntegrate:

Properties & Relations  (7)

Get the list of coefficients in a Laguerre polynomial:

Use FunctionExpand to expand LaguerreL functions into simpler functions:

LaguerreL can be represented as a DifferentialRoot:

LaguerreL can be represented in terms of MeijerG:

LaguerreL can be represented as a DifferenceRoot:

General term in the series expansion of LaguerreL:

The generating function for LaguerreL:

Possible Issues  (1)

Cancellations in the polynomial form may lead to inaccurate numerical results:

Evaluate the function directly:

See Also

HermiteH  WhittakerM  WhittakerW  Hypergeometric1F1

Tech Notes

    ▪
  • Orthogonal Polynomials

Related Guides

    ▪
  • Special Functions
  • ▪
  • Mathematical Functions
  • ▪
  • Functions Used in Quantum Mechanics
  • ▪
  • Functions for Separable Coordinate Systems

Related Links

  • MathWorld
  • The Wolfram Functions Site
  • NKS|Online  (A New Kind of Science)

History

Introduced in 1988 (1.0) | Updated in 2021 (13.0) ▪ 2022 (13.1)

Wolfram Research (1988), LaguerreL, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/LaguerreL.html (updated 2022).

Text

Wolfram Research (1988), LaguerreL, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/LaguerreL.html (updated 2022).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1988. "LaguerreL." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2022. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/LaguerreL.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1988). LaguerreL. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/LaguerreL.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_laguerrel, author="Wolfram Research", title="{LaguerreL}", year="2022", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/LaguerreL.html}", note=[Accessed: 01-May-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_laguerrel, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={LaguerreL}, year={2022}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/LaguerreL.html}, note=[Accessed: 01-May-2026]}

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