what is ALPHA?

[Niitsu Yoichiro]

I'm new to Octave. I have a question that cannot be solved by reading
the info-manual or the FAQ list. I would be grateful if someone direct 
me.

In info, besselj() is described as:

Special Functions
=================

 - Mapping Function:  besseli (ALPHA, X)
 - Mapping Function:  besselj (ALPHA, X)
 - Mapping Function:  besselk (ALPHA, X)
 - Mapping Function:  bessely (ALPHA, X)
     Compute Bessel functions of the following types:

    `besselj'
          Bessel functions of the first kind.

    `bessely'
          Bessel functions of the second kind.

    `besseli'
          Modified Bessel functions of the first kind.

    `besselk'
          Modified Bessel functions of the second kind.

     The second argument, X, must be a real matrix, vector, or scalar.

     The first argument, ALPHA, must be greater than or equal to zero.
     If ALPHA is a range, it must have an increment equal to one.

     If ALPHA is a scalar, the result is the same size as X.

     If ALPHA is a range, X must be a vector or scalar, and the result
     is a matrix with `length(X)' rows and `length(ALPHA)' columns.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

However, what is ALPHA? The order of the bessel function? If so,
ALPAH must be integer, or not? (Fractional order is available?)

Thanks in advance,

Yoichiro Niitsu
Yokohama, Japan



-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Octave is freely available under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Octave's home on the web:  http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave/octave.html
How to fund new projects:  http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave/funding.html
Subscription information:  http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave/archive.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------