Solving Differential Equation with Laguerre Polynomials

Logarythmic
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What differential equation does

\phi_n (x) := e^{-x/2} L_n (x)

solve? L_n is a Laguerre polynomial.

Please give me a hint on this one. I haven't got a clue where to start.
 
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What differential equation do the Laguerre polynomials solve? If you don't know, look it up.
 
The Laguerre differential equation is

xy'' + (1 - x)y' + ny = 0

and L_n (x) is a solution to this but my \phi_n (x) is not a solution to the Laguerre equation, is it?
I know that \phi_n (x) should solve a self adjoint differential equation but I don't think the Laguerre eq. is?
 
Find \phi',\phi'' in terms of the derivatives of L and use the differential equation relating the derivatives of L to get a DE relating the derivatives of \phi.
 
Ok, so then I get

x \phi_n^{''} (x) + (1-x) \phi_n^{'} + (n + \frac{1}{2} - \frac{x}{4}) \phi_n (x) = 0

but this isn't self-adjoint?
In my case, self-adjoint means it can be written in the form

\frac{d}{dx} (p(x) \frac{d}{dx} \phi_n (x) ) + q(x) \phi_n (x)
 
I made a mistake. The equation I get is

x \phi_n^{''} + \phi_n^{'} + (n + \frac{1}{2} - \frac{x}{4}) \phi_n = 0

and this is indeed self-adjoint. Thanks for your help!
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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