Abstract
In this paper, a shifted Jacobi-Gauss collocation spectral method is proposed for solving the nonlinear Lane-Emden type equation. The spatial approximation is based on shifted Jacobi polynomials P(T,beta)((x,beta)) (x) with alpha, beta is an element of (-1, infinity), T > 0, and n is the polynomial degree. The shifted Jacobi-Gauss points are used as collocation nodes. Numerical examples are included to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the technique and a comparison is made with existing results. The method is easy to implement and yields very accurate results. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.