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Horn function

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ17027577 ↗
Source-derived summary

In the theory of special functions in mathematics, the Horn functions (named for Jakob Horn) are the 34 distinct convergent hypergeometric series of order two (i.e. having two independent variables), enumerated by Horn (1931) (corrected by Borngässer (1933)). They are listed in (Erdélyi et al. 1953, section 5.7.1). B. C. Carlson revealed a problem with the Horn function classification scheme.

The total 34 Horn functions can be further categorised into 14 complete hypergeometric functions and 20 confluent hypergeometric functions. The complete functions, with their domain of convergence, are:

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Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Horn function” as open-knowledge reference entry. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1931, 1933, 1953—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Horn, function and Open-knowledge can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as open-knowledge reference entry. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17027577. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1931, 1933 and 1953.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Horn function” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.