Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In mathematics, the gamma function (represented by Γ, capital Greek letter gamma) is the most common extension of the factorial function to complex numbers.Derived by Daniel Bernoulli, the gamma function () is defined for all complex numbers except non-positive integers, and for every positive integer =, () = ()!.
(v+n-1), G n (k) are the Gregory coefficients of higher order with G n (1) = G n, Γ is the gamma function and ζ is the Hurwitz zeta function. [ 15 ] [ 13 ] Similar series with the Cauchy numbers of the second kind C n reads [ 15 ] [ 13 ]
This approximation is good to more than 8 decimal digits for z with a real part greater than 8. Robert H. Windschitl suggested it in 2002 for computing the gamma function with fair accuracy on calculators with limited program or register memory. [13]
Repeated application of the recurrence relation for the lower incomplete gamma function leads to the power series expansion: [2] (,) = = (+) (+) = = (+ +). Given the rapid growth in absolute value of Γ(z + k) when k → ∞, and the fact that the reciprocal of Γ(z) is an entire function, the coefficients in the rightmost sum are well-defined, and locally the sum converges uniformly for all ...
Thus the -gamma function can be considered as an extension of the -factorial function to the real numbers. The relation to the ordinary gamma function is made explicit in the limit = (). There is a simple proof of this limit by Gosper.
It is unknown whether these constants are transcendental in general, but Γ( 1 / 3 ) and Γ( 1 / 4 ) were shown to be transcendental by G. V. Chudnovsky. Γ( 1 / 4 ) / 4 √ π has also long been known to be transcendental, and Yuri Nesterenko proved in 1996 that Γ( 1 / 4 ), π, and e π are algebraically independent.
One property of the gamma function, distinguishing it from other continuous interpolations of the factorials, is given by the Bohr–Mollerup theorem, which states that the gamma function (offset by one) is the only log-convex function on the positive real numbers that interpolates the factorials and obeys the same functional equation.
Hadamard's gamma function plotted over part of the real axis. Unlike the classical gamma function, it is holomorphic; there are no poles. In mathematics, Hadamard's gamma function, named after Jacques Hadamard, is an extension of the factorial function, different from the classical gamma function (it is an instance of a pseudogamma function).