Legendre Series Solutions of Fredholm Integral Equations

A matrix method for approximately solving linear Fredholm integral equations of the second kind is presented. The solution involves a truncated Legendre series approximation. The method is based on first taking the truncated Legendre series expansions of the functions in equation and then substituting their matrix forms into the equation. Thereby the equation reduces to a matrix equation, which corresponds to a linear system of algebraic equations with unknown Legendre coefficients. In addition, some equations considered by other authors are solved in terms of Legendre polynomials and the results are compared.