The Airy function, or Airy function of the first kind, is a special function named after the British astronomer George Biddell Airy. It and a related second function are the two linearly independent solutions of the differential equation d squared y over d x squared minus x y equals zero, known as the Airy equation or the Stokes equation. Because a related linear equation is oscillatory for negative values of its parameter and exponential for positive values, the Airy functions are oscillatory for negative x and exponential for positive x, making the Airy equation the simplest second order linear differential equation with a turning point, a point at which solutions change character from oscillatory to exponential.
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Source Wikipedia: Airy function
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Source Wikipedia: Airy function
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1. Wikipedia: Airy function
References
Airy (1838), "On the intensity of light in the neighbourhood of a caustic", Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 6
History
The Airy function is named after the British astronomer and physicist George Biddell Airy (1801-1892), who encountered it in his early study of optics in physics.
In Branch: Differential Equations, Lead paragraph
In fact, the Airy equation is the simplest second-order linear differential equation with a turning point (a point where the character of the solutions changes from oscillatory to exponential).
Attributed To: George Biddell Airy, Lead
The Airy function is named after the British astronomer and physicist George Biddell Airy (1801-1892), who encountered it in his early study of optics in physics.
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