HP 50g Graphing Calculator User Manual

Page 145

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Page 3-15

GAMMA:

The Gamma function

Γ(α)

PSI:

N-th derivative of the digamma function

Psi:

Digamma function, derivative of the ln(Gamma)

The Gamma function is defined by

. This function has

applications in applied mathematics for science and engineering, as well as in
probability and statistics.

The PSI function,

Ψ(x,y), represents the y-th derivative of the digamma function,

i.e., ,

where

Ψ

(x) is known as the digamma function, or

Psi function. For this function, y must be a positive integer.

The Psi function,

Ψ

(x), or digamma function, is defined as

.

Factorial of a number
The factorial of a positive integer number n is defined as n!=n

(n-1)

×(n-2)

…3

Ч2Ч1, with 0! = 1. The factorial function is available in the calculator by

using ~‚2. In both ALG and RPN modes, enter the number first,
followed by the sequence ~‚2. Example: 5~‚2`.
The Gamma function, defined above, has the property that

Γ(α) = (α−1) Γ(α−1)

, for

α > 1.

Therefore, it can be related to the factorial of a number, i.e.,

Γ(α) = (α−1)

!,

when

α is a positive integer. We can also use the factorial function to calculate

the Gamma function, and vice versa. For example,

Γ

(5) = 4! or,

4~‚2`

. The factorial function is available in the MTH menu,

through the 7. PROBABILITY.. menu.

=

Γ

0

1

)

(

dx

e

x

x

α

α

)

(

)

,

(

x

dx

d

x

n

n

n

ψ

=

Ψ

)]

(

ln[

)

(

x

x

Γ

=

ψ

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