Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
We characterize the continuous q-ultraspherical polynomials in terms of the special form of the coefficients in the expansion   ${{\mathcal{D}}_{q}}{{P}_{n}}\left( x \right)$  in the basis
 ${{\mathcal{D}}_{q}}{{P}_{n}}\left( x \right)$  in the basis   $\left\{ {{P}_{n}}\left( x \right) \right\},{{\mathcal{D}}_{q}}$  being the Askey-Wilson divided difference operator. The polynomials are assumed to be symmetric, and the connection coefficients are multiples of the reciprocal of the square of the
 $\left\{ {{P}_{n}}\left( x \right) \right\},{{\mathcal{D}}_{q}}$  being the Askey-Wilson divided difference operator. The polynomials are assumed to be symmetric, and the connection coefficients are multiples of the reciprocal of the square of the   ${{L}^{2}}$  norm of the polynomials. A similar characterization is given for the discrete
 ${{L}^{2}}$  norm of the polynomials. A similar characterization is given for the discrete   $q$ -ultraspherical polynomials. A new proof of the evaluation of the connection coefficients for big
 $q$ -ultraspherical polynomials. A new proof of the evaluation of the connection coefficients for big   $q$ -Jacobi polynomials is given.
 $q$ -Jacobi polynomials is given.