The Kidder Equation:

The Kidder problem is with and where . This looks challenging because of the square root singularity. We prove, however, that for all . Other very simple but very accurate curve fits and bounds are given in the text; . Maple code for a rational Chebyshev pseudospectral method is given as a table. Convergence is geometric until the coefficients are when the coefficients . An initial‐value problem is obtained if is known; the slope Chebyshev series has only a fourth‐order rate of convergence until a simple change‐of‐coordinate restores a geometric rate of convergence, empirically proportional to . Kidder's perturbation theory (in powers of α) is much inferior to a delta‐expansion given here for the first time. A quadratic‐over‐quadratic Padé approximant in the exponentially mapped coordinate predicts the slope at the origin very accurately up to about . Finally, it is shown that the singular case can be expressed in terms of the solution to the Blasius equation.