As said by others in the comments, numbers m and n are YOUR choices to attempt to get at least some of the resistors and capacitors available as standard off the shelf components such as resistors 680 Ohm, 1kOhm, 2.2 kOhm, etc... The formulas do not give absolute values for the resistor and capacitor values, they only define their ratios, so you can also make some component value selections without changing the filtering properties. Numbers n and m are those that you can play with in given limits to get the needed components more easily with less parallel or serial combinations.
The tables:
Filtering transfer functions are approximations of ideal brickwall filtering transfer functions, which pass certain frequency range as is and stop all other frequencies completely.The approximations are developed by mathematicians who developed the general approximation theory. Some of them, for ex. guys like Chebyshev or Bessel surely never thought electronic filters, because such things didn't exist. Some good approximations are originally developed just for filtering - like Cauer's elliptical approximations.
The approximation theory gives the optimal s-plane rational functions when the order (the highest power of s) of the rational function is given at first. In what sense a function is optimal? It varies. Butterworth, Chebyshev, Bessel and Cauer approximations optimize different things and sacrifice some others.
Filter tables in filter handbooks give the filters calculated for limit frequency fc=1Hz. The component values must be scaled for the actual fc.
Your attached application note constructs higher order lowpass filters by cascading 2nd order filter stages. It's mathematically proven to be a good way to limit the needed component value accuracy. By cascading two 2nd order filters instead of making directly a single opamp 4th order filter allows much more inaccurate resistors and capacitors for the same performance accuracy.
The tables are presented so that you select the filter order and pick Q and FSF for each filter stage from the table and calculate the needed component values with the formulas. You input the actual fc, one component value for each stage and the selectable factors n and m.
Deriving the tables is possible only for those who understand the approximation theory math and know there the unique fundamental optimization ideas of Butterworth, Chebyshev and Bessel approximations. Prepare to study a couple of years engineering math to be up to the task. The theory is presented in academic level network synthesis theory books. Engineering handbooks have only ready to use tables with no proofs.
ADDED after the questioner wondered in a comment when should he select Sallen-Key filter or what are the reasons to select multi-feedback filter. And which facts tell the right selection between Butterworth, Chebyshev and Bessel?
Sallen and Key developed inductor-free filters in the era when modern high-gain opamps were not available. Sallen-Key circuit topology works acceptably even with single transistor or single tube voltage follower amps, no high gain opamp is a must. The drawback is the limitation of the max.available passband gain. Multi-feedback filter topology has not that limitation. Other topologies are known with their own pros and cons. One general factor to select a topology is the performance when the frequency is so high that the opamp non-ideality starts to be notable. Another is the sensitivity to component value inaccuracies.
Butterworth, Tshebyshev, Bessel and Elliptic (by Cauer) are not about the circuit schematic at all, but what's the rational s-plane function used to approximate the ideal brickwall filter. The approximations are totally different in the next areas:
- how steep is the transition from the passband to the stopband with given filter order
- how large are the gain variations vs. frequency in the passband and in the stopband
- how much differently different frequencies get delayed in the filter
The 3rd property is extremely essential in some applications. For ex. data communication gets trashed if signal pulses are distorted to a ringing mess by the frequency dependent delay variations. It's easy to show that the frequency dependent delay causes problems even easier than frequency dependent passband gain variations. Bessel's approximation is good when the delay for passband signals must be quite constant, but other approximations have steeper transition from passband to stopband. The common term for non-frequency dependent delay is "phase linearity". The price of getting phase linear filtering by selecting Bessel's approximation is a must to use higher order filter for certain frequency selectivity.
All of the mentioned things are told in filter theory textbooks. Filter engineering handbooks can have poor theory content, because they assume the designer knows what he wants.
Circuit analyzer programs make possible to test easily how well filters separate the passband and the stopband and how badly they distort the pulses. Math programs make it possible with no schematic by evaluating what the transfer function causes. Such programs did not exist when complex communication and radar equipment became vital (WW2). The only way to get something complex to work was to make all on theory-based calculations with extremely care.
