Mixed Boundary-Value Problems in Potential Theory

The problems associated with finding solutions of Laplace's equation subject to mixed boundary conditions have attracted much attention and, as a consequence, a variety of analytical techniques have been developed for the solution of such problems. Sneddon (1) has given a comprehensive account of these techniques. The object of this note is to draw attention to some simple orthogonal polynomial solutions to the most basic mixed boundary-value problems in two and threedimensional potential theory. These solutions have the advantage that most quantities of physical interest are easily evaluated in terms of known functions. Two-dimensional problems are considered in §2 and axially-symmetric three-dimensional problems in §3.