Digamma function 1

Digamma function
In mathematics, the digamma function is
defined as the logarithmic derivative of the
gamma function:

Digamma function in the complex plane. The color of a point encodes

the value of . Strong colors denote values close to zero and hue encodes
the value's argument.

It is the first of the polygamma functions.

Relation to harmonic numbers

The digamma function, often denoted also as ψ0(x), ψ0(x) or (after the shape of the archaic Greek letter Ϝ
digamma), is related to the harmonic numbers in that

where Hn is the n 'th harmonic number, and γ is the Euler-Mascheroni constant. For half-integer values, it may be
expressed as
Digamma function 2

Integral representations
It has the integral representation

valid if the real part of is positive. This may be written as

which follows from Euler's integral formula for the harmonic numbers.

Series formula
Digamma can be computed in the complex plane outside negative integers (Abramowitz and Stegun 6.3.16), using

or

This can be utilized to evaluate infinite sums of rational functions, i.e., , where p(n) and q(n)

are polynomials of n.
Performing partial fraction on un in the complex field, in the case when all roots of q(n) are simple roots,

For the series to converge,

or otherwise the series will be greater than harmonic series and thus diverges.
Hence

and

With the series expansion of higher rank polygamma function a generalized formula can be given as

provided the series on the left converges.

Digamma function 3

Taylor series
The digamma has a rational zeta series, given by the Taylor series at z=1. This is

which converges for |z|<1. Here, is the Riemann zeta function. This series is easily derived from the
corresponding Taylor's series for the Hurwitz zeta function.

Newton series
The Newton series for the digamma follows from Euler's integral formula:

where is the binomial coefficient.

Reflection formula
The digamma function satisfies a reflection formula similar to that of the Gamma function,

Recurrence formula and characterization

The digamma function satisfies the recurrence relation

Thus, it can be said to "telescope" 1/x, for one has

where Δ is the forward difference operator. This satisfies the recurrence relation of a partial sum of the harmonic
series, thus implying the formula

where is the Euler-Mascheroni constant.

More generally, one has

Actually, is the only solution of the functional equation that is monotone on

and such that .

Digamma function 4

Gaussian sum
The digamma has a Gaussian sum of the form

for integers . Here, ζ(s,q) is the Hurwitz zeta function and is a Bernoulli polynomial. A
special case of the multiplication theorem is

and a neat generalization of this is

in which it is assumed that q is a natural number, and that 1-qa is not.

Gauss's digamma theorem

For positive integers m and k (with m < k), the digamma function may be expressed in terms of elementary functions
as:

Computation & approximation

According to J.M. Bernardo AS 103 algorithm the digamma function for x, a real number, can be approximated by

or the asymptotic series

n as integer, where B(n) is the nth Bernouilli number for and is the Riemann zeta function.

Special values
The digamma function has values in closed form for rational numbers, as a result of Gauss's digamma theorem.
Some are listed below:
Digamma function 5

See also
• Trigamma function

References
• Abramowitz, M. and Stegun, I. A. (Eds.). "psi (Digamma) Function." §6.3 in Handbook of Mathematical
Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables, 9th printing. New York: Dover, pp. 258-259, 1972.
See section §6.4 [1]
• Weisstein, Eric W., "Digamma function [2]" from MathWorld.

External links
• Cephes [3] - C and C++ language special functions math library
• [4] - Bernardo Statistical algorithm psi(digamma function) computation, pp. 1

References
[1] http:/ / www. math. sfu. ca/ ~cbm/ aands/ page_260. htm
[2] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ DigammaFunction. html
[3] http:/ / www. moshier. net/ #Cephes
[4] http:/ / www. uv. es/ ~bernardo/ 1976AppStatist. pdf
Article Sources and Contributors 6

Article Sources and Contributors

Digamma function  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=404703303  Contributors: A bit iffy, Arthur Rubin, CALR, Charles Matthews, Dauto, Denisj44, Dhushara, Dr Dec, Draco
flavus, Dysprosia, Ekotkie, Fredrik, Giftlite, Hair Commodore, Ichbin-dcw, Jenzd, Kiensvay, KittySaturn, Kts, Linas, Matikkapoika, Michael Hardy, MisterSheik, MuDavid, Netheril96,
Octahedron80, PMajer, PV=nRT, R.e.b., Ruud Koot, Sabbut, Schneelocke, Scythe33, Shahab, Trauber, Unyoyega, XJamRastafire, Zufar, 48 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Complex Polygamma 0.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Complex_Polygamma_0.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Jan Homann

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/