Algorithm to compute Gamma function

Question

The question is simple. I would like to implement the Gamma function in my calculator written in C; however, I have not been able to find an easy way to programmatically compute an approximation to arbitrary precision.

Is there a good algorithm to compute approximations of the Gamma function?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Looks like the Lanczos approximation will suit my needs : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanczos_approximation

Thanks for your help!

Answer 2

Someone asked a similar question yesterday. I thought of replacing $e^{-t}$ by a series. $$\Gamma (z) = \int_{0}^{\infty} t^{z-1} e^{-t} dt \approx \sum_{j=0}^{a} \frac{(-1)^j b^{j+z}}{(j + z) j !} . \text{Choose } a > b ,$$ but as J. M. points out, I should have checked this a bit better. Take great care in the choice of $a, b$.

Answer 3

It is now part of the C++11 standard library.

http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/numeric/math/tgamma

Answer 4

How about interpolation of the numbers in a look-up table featuring numbers drawn from a graph of the curve you are looking for? If you have the program Stella, you can literally shape by hand a curve that you desire, and it produces the numbers to be added to the table.