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Beta Function

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11 views

Beta Function

Uploaded by

Bukenya Victor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Beta function

In mathematics, the beta function, also called the Euler integral of the first kind, is a special function defined by

for Re(x), Re(y) > 0.

The beta function was studied by Euler and Legendre and was given its name by Jacques Binet.

Properties
The beta function is symmetric, meaning that

It has many other forms, including:

where Γ(x) is the gamma function and (x)n is the falling factorial; i.e., . The

second identity shows in particular .

Just as the gamma function for integers describes factorials, the beta function can define a binomial coefficient after adjusting indices:
The beta function was the first known scattering amplitude in string theory, first conjectured by Gabriele Veneziano.

Relationship between Gamma function and Beta


function
To derive the integral representation of the beta function, write the product of two factorials as

Now, let , , so

Transforming to polar coordinates with a = rcosθ, b = rsinθ:

Hence, rewrite the arguments with the usual form of Beta function:

A somewhat more straightforward derivation:


The argument in the exponential inspires us to employ the substitution

where J is the Jacobian of the transformation. Using this transformation we arrive at:

Again, now the comparison to Β(x,y) leads us to:

This leads to an easy identification with the expected result:

Derivatives
The derivatives follow:

where ψ(x) is the digamma function.


Integrals
The Nörlund-Rice integral is a contour integral involving the beta function.

Approximation
Stirling's approximation gives the asymptotic formula

Incomplete beta function


The incomplete beta function is a generalization of the beta function that replaces the definite integral of the beta function with an indefinite
integral. The situation is analogous to the incomplete gamma function being a generalization of the gamma function.

The incomplete beta function is defined as

For x = 1, the incomplete beta function coincides with the complete beta function.

The regularized incomplete beta function (or regularized beta function for short) is defined in terms of the incomplete beta function and the
complete beta function:

Working out the integral for integer values of a and b, one finds:

Properties

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