Let’s flex our mathematical legs a bit by implementing an approximation to the gamma function Γ(z). In this article, I’ll introduce what the gamma function is, what it’s for, and how to actually calculate it, using a well known approximation method.
This topic leans more heavily into mathematics than usual for this blog. Some of the concepts may be new to you, and I regret I cannot give them a proper treatment in a single article. I’ll do my best to give you the flavor of how everything works, and I have provided some resources at the end should you wish to learn more.
What’s the gamma function? What’s it for?
You’re probably familiar with integer factorials already. Here’s a simple definition:
\(n! = 1 \times 2 \times 3 \times \cdots \times (n-2) \times (n-1) \times n\)
For example, \(5! = 1 \times 2 \times 3 \times 4 \times 5 = 120 \). However, that only works for positive integers. The gamma function lets us work with most positive and negative real numbers, and even complex numbers. For positive integers, the gamma function is very closely related to ordinary factorials:
\(\Gamma(z) = (z – 1)!\)
Why is it (z – 1)! instead of just z! ? As H. M. Edwards puts it—in a footnote, no less:
Continue reading “PWC 167 › Lanczos Gamma Approximation”