Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2009
Periodic solutions of Mathieu's equation*
where a is a suitable function of q have recently been discussed in several papers in these Proceedings. An elegant method of determining these solutions, which are written
was given by Whittaker, † who obtained the integral equation
which is satisfied by periodic solutions of Mathieu's equation.
* Liouville's Journal, sér. 2, t. XIII., pp. 137–203.Google Scholar
† Proceedings of the Mathematical Congress, 1912, vol. 1.Google Scholar
* The first of these does not seem to have been noticed previously; it would not be obvious from Mathieu's method, and Whittaker's method does not introduce a at all
* This is the reason for introducing the factor (–)γ.
* See Bromwich, , Infinite Series, p. 67.Google Scholar It is obvious that C n, o=B n 0.