Let ν(M) denote the number of integers N in the range (0 ≤ N ≤ M) for which

where {y} denotes the fractional part of y. It is a convenient but trivial restriction to assume always that θ and φ lie between 0 and 1. There is a well-known result, which will be called ‘Weyl's Theorem’, that if θ is irrational,

1. The aim of this note is to prove the

Theorem. Let

where the λnare real and

and let

Then

A similar result holds for infinite seriesconverging uniformly in [−T, T].

It is well known that, if a trigonometric series

converges to zero in 0 ≤ x < 2π then all the coefficients are zero. To generalize this property of the series, sets of uniqueness have been defined. A point-set E in 0 ≤ x < 2π is a set of uniqueness if every series (0·1), converging to zero in [0, 2π) − E, has zero coefficients. Otherwise E is a set of multiplicity. For example, every enumerable set is a set of uniqueness. An account of the theory may be found in Zygmund (2), chapter 11, pp. 267 et seq.

1. The tabulated values of the Legendre polynomials suggest that the right-hand minimum of Pn(x) changes monotonically as n increases. Let xr, n be the value of x which gives the rth extreme value to the left of 1 of Pn(x). Then we can show that

where jr is the rth pösitive zero of J1(z), and that after some term the sequence Pn(xr, n) is monotonic with the moduli of the terms decreasing. We cannot, however, show that the sequence is monotonic from the place at which its terms become significant.

Several recent papers have been concerned with a group G, of order 28.36.5.7, which can be represented as a collineation group in five dimensions. This collineation group is generated by harmonic inversions (projections) which leave fixed a point (the vertex) and a prime (said to be conjugate to the vertex). There are 126 projections in G and the set of 126 vertices form a configuration which is described in a paper (Hamill (3)) in which the operations of G are expressed as products of at most six projections. The group leaves invariant six algebraically independent primals; these have been determined (Todd (6)), and the equations of the simplest are given. The simplest invariant is a sextic primal, and some properties of this have been recorded in an earlier paper (Hartley (4)).

The zeros of solutions of the general second-order homogeneous linear differential equation are shown to satisfy a certain non-linear differential equation. The method here proposed for their determination is the numerical integration of this differential equation. It has the advantage of being independent of tabulated values of the actual functions whose zeros are being sought. As an example of the application of the method the Bessel functions Jn(x), Yn(x) are considered. Numerical techniques for integrating the differential equation for the zeros of these Bessel functions are described in detail.

The type of Markoff process which is considered in this paper corresponds to a system capable of n states, the time being regarded as a continuously varying parameter. At any instant t the probability distribution is represented by the vector

Many stochastic problems arise in physics where we have to deal with a stochastic variable representing the number of particles distributed in a continuous infinity of states characterized by a parameter E, and this distribution varies with another parameter t (which may be continuous or discrete; if t represents time or thickness it is of course continuous). This variation occurs because of transitions characteristic of the stochastic process under consideration. If the E-space were discrete and the states represented by E1, E2, …, then it would be possible to define a function

representing the probability that there are ν1 particles in E1, ν2 particles in E2, …, at t. The variation of π with t is governed by the transitions defined for the process; ν1, ν2, … are thus stochastic variables, and it is possible to study the moments or the distribution function of the sum of such stochastic variables

with the help of the π function which yields also the correlation between the stochastic variables νi.

Boundary-layer equations for the unsteady flow near an effectively infinite flat plate set into motion in its own plane are subjected to von Mises's transformation. Solutions are obtained for the flows in which gravity is neglected, the Prandtl number σ is arbitrary, and the plate has a constant temperature and a velocity that is either uniform or, with dissipation neglected, non-uniform. Explicit solutions are obtained for the case in which the viscosity μr varies directly as the absolute temperature Tr. Solutions are also obtained for the diffusion of a plane vortex sheet in a gas, and for the boundary layer near a uniformly accelerated plate of constant temperature when gravity is not neglected. For the non-uniform motion of a heat-insulated plate, dissipation not being negligible, a solution is obtained when σ is 1 and μr ∝ Tr. The relative importance of free convection due to gravity and forced convection due to viscosity is discussed, and a solution is obtained, with μr ∝ Tr, for the free convection current set up near a plate that is at rest in a gas at a temperature different from that of the plate, dissipation being neglected.

It is well known that the operators mainly employed in quantum theory are hermitian; it is less well known amongst physicists that they are required, in addition, to be self-adjoint. This is essential for the validity of the result known in quantum theory as the representation theorem and in the mathematical theory as the resolution of the identity. The purpose of this paper is to show that the self-adjoint operators can be characterized by a condition which is nearer to having a physical significance than those given in the literature.

The aim of this article is to discuss a paradox of importance in the quantum theory of measurement. The paradox was first propounded by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen in 1935(1), and was discussed subsequently by Bohr(2), Furry(3), Schrödinger(4, 5), as well as in texts (6, 7). We begin by formulating the paradox.

The addition theorem for Legendre functions leads, as is well known, to a useful expansion formula of importance in the theory of electrostatic potentials,

or, in an alternative notation,

In many technical problems on conduction of heat involving convection, radiation, or evaporation at the surface of a body, the flux of heat at the surface is known empirically as a function of the surface temperature with reasonable accuracy. The thermal properties of the body also vary with the temperature, but in many cases the nature of this variation is completely unknown, and in others it is slight over the range of temperature involved. Thus it seems worth while studying problems on conduction of heat in a medium with constant thermal properties and with heat transfer at its surface a given function of the surface temperature. Mathematically such problems occupy an interesting position between the classical linear theory and the general case in which both the differential equation and the boundary conditions are non-linear.