Ellipsoidal Harmonic of the First Kind
The first solution to Lamé's differential equation, denoted
for
, ...,
. They are also called Lamé functions. The product of two ellipsoidal harmonics of the first kind is a spherical harmonic. Whittaker and Watson (1990, pp. 536-537) write
and give various types of ellipsoidal harmonics and their highest degree terms as
1. 
2. 
3. 
4.
.
A Lamé function of degree
may be expressed as
 |
(3)
|
where
or 1/2,
are real and unequal to each other and to
,
, and
, and
 |
(4)
|
Byerly (1959) uses the recurrence relations to explicitly compute some ellipsoidal harmonics, which he denoted by
,
,
, and
,
REFERENCES:
Byerly, W. E. "Laplace's Equation in Curvilinear Coördinates. Ellipsoidal Harmonics." Ch. 8 in An Elementary Treatise on Fourier's Series, and Spherical, Cylindrical, and Ellipsoidal Harmonics, with Applications to Problems in Mathematical Physics. New York: Dover, pp. 251-266, 1959.
Humbert, P. Fonctions de Lamé et Fonctions de Mathieu. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1926.
Whittaker, E. T. and Watson, G. N. A Course in Modern Analysis, 4th ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1990.