Upper bounds for the zeros of ultraspherical polynomials (Q910904)

The Sturm comparison theorem is used to obtain upper bounds for the zeros of ultraspherical polynomials in terms a function \(\phi\) (x) given by \[ \phi (x)=\int^{x}_{0}(\sqrt{A-Bs^ 2})/(1-s^ 2)ds. \] The numbers \(0<A<B\) are chosen in such a way that \(v(x)=\cos \phi (x)/\sqrt{\phi '(x)}\) satisfies a second order differential equation which is a Sturmian majorant for the differential equation of the ultraspherical polynomials. A careful analysis of the function \(\phi\) (x) then gives practical upper bounds, which the authors have compared with the actual zeros.