I didn't expect nan for small arguments. >>> scipy.__version__ '0.5.0.2034' >>> special.jv(2./3,1.e-8) 3.2390285067614573e-06 >>> special.jv(2./3,1.e-9) 6.9782753769690383e-07 >>> special.jv(2./3,1.e-10) nan >>> special.jv(2./3,0.0) 0.0 Nils