Download or read book $q$-Difference Operators, Orthogonal Polynomials, and Symmetric Expansions written by Douglas Bowman and published by American Mathematical Soc.. This book was released on 2002 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author explores ramifications and extensions of a $q$-difference operator method first used by L.J. Rogers for deriving relationships between special functions involving certain fundamental $q$-symmetric polynomials. In special cases these symmetric polynomials reduce to well-known classes of orthogonal polynomials. A number of basic properties of these polynomials follow from this approach. This leads naturally to the evaluation of the Askey-Wilson integral and generalizations. Expansions of certain generalized basic hypergeometric functions in terms of the symmetric polynomials are also found. This provides a quick route to understanding the group structure generated by iterating the two-term transformations of these functions. Some infrastructure is also laid for more general investigations in the future