§31.18 Methods of Computation

Independent solutions of (31.2.1) can be computed in the neighborhoods of singularities from their Fuchs–Frobenius expansions (§31.3), and elsewhere by numerical integration of (31.2.1). Subsequently, the coefficients in the necessary connection formulas can be calculated numerically by matching the values of solutions and their derivatives at suitably chosen values of $z$; see Laĭ (1994) and Lay et al. (1998). Care needs to be taken to choose integration paths in such a way that the wanted solution is growing in magnitude along the path at least as rapidly as all other solutions (§3.7(ii)). The computation of the accessory parameter for the Heun functions is carried out via the continued-fraction equations (31.4.2) and (31.11.13) in the same way as for the Mathieu, Lamé, and spheroidal wave functions in Chapters 28–30.