Gamma function

Gamma
The gamma function along part of the real axis
General information
General definition	${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)=\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{z-1}e^{-t}\,dt}$
Fields of application	Calculus, mathematical analysis, statistics, physics

In mathematics, the gamma function (represented by Γ, capital Greek letter gamma) is the most common extension of the factorial function to complex numbers. Derived by Daniel Bernoulli, the gamma function ${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)}$ is defined for all complex numbers ${\displaystyle z}$ except non-positive integers, and for every positive integer ${\displaystyle z=n}$, $${\displaystyle \Gamma (n)=(n-1)!\,.}$$The gamma function can be defined via a convergent improper integral for complex numbers with positive real part:

$${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)=\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{z-1}e^{-t}{\text{ d}}t,\ \qquad \Re (z)>0\,.}$$The gamma function then is defined in the complex plane as the analytic continuation of this integral function: it is a meromorphic function which is holomorphic except at zero and the negative integers, where it has simple poles.

The gamma function has no zeros, so the reciprocal gamma function ⁠1/Γ(z)⁠ is an entire function. In fact, the gamma function corresponds to the Mellin transform of the negative exponential function:

$${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)={\mathcal {M}}\{e^{-x}\}(z)\,.}$$

Other extensions of the factorial function do exist, but the gamma function is the most popular and useful. It appears as a factor in various probability-distribution functions and other formulas in the fields of probability, statistics, analytic number theory, and combinatorics.

The gamma function can be seen as a solution to the interpolation problem of finding a smooth curve ${\displaystyle y=f(x)}$ that connects the points of the factorial sequence: ${\displaystyle (x,y)=(n,n!)}$ for all positive integer values of ${\displaystyle n}$. The simple formula for the factorial, x! = 1 × 2 × ⋯ × x is only valid when x is a positive integer, and no elementary function has this property, but a good solution is the gamma function ${\displaystyle f(x)=\Gamma (x+1)}$.^[1]

The gamma function is not only smooth but analytic (except at the non-positive integers), and it can be defined in several explicit ways. However, it is not the only analytic function that extends the factorial, as one may add any analytic function that is zero on the positive integers, such as ${\displaystyle k\sin(m\pi x)}$ for an integer ${\displaystyle m}$.^[1] Such a function is known as a pseudogamma function, the most famous being the Hadamard function.^[2]

A more restrictive requirement is the functional equation which interpolates the shifted factorial ${\displaystyle f(n)=(n{-}1)!}$ :^[3][4] $${\displaystyle f(x+1)=xf(x)\ {\text{ for any }}x>0,\qquad f(1)=1.}$$

But this still does not give a unique solution, since it allows for multiplication by any periodic function ${\displaystyle g(x)}$ with ${\displaystyle g(x)=g(x+1)}$ and ${\displaystyle g(0)=1}$, such as ${\displaystyle g(x)=e^{k\sin(m\pi x)}}$.

One way to resolve the ambiguity is the Bohr–Mollerup theorem, which shows that ${\displaystyle f(x)=\Gamma (x)}$ is the unique interpolating function for the factorial, defined over the positive reals, which is logarithmically convex,^[5] meaning that ${\displaystyle y=\log f(x)}$ is convex.^[6]

The notation ${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)}$ is due to Legendre.^[1] If the real part of the complex number z is strictly positive (${\displaystyle \Re (z)>0}$), then the integral $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)=\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{z-1}e^{-t}\,dt}$$ converges absolutely, and is known as the Euler integral of the second kind. (Euler's integral of the first kind is the beta function.^[1]) Using integration by parts, one sees that:

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\Gamma (z+1)&=\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{z}e^{-t}\,dt\\&={\Bigl [}-t^{z}e^{-t}{\Bigr ]}_{0}^{\infty }+\int _{0}^{\infty }zt^{z-1}e^{-t}\,dt\\&=\lim _{t\to \infty }\left(-t^{z}e^{-t}\right)-\left(-0^{z}e^{-0}\right)+z\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{z-1}e^{-t}\,dt.\end{aligned}}}$$

Recognizing that ${\displaystyle -t^{z}e^{-t}\to 0}$ as ${\displaystyle t\to \infty ,}$ $${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\Gamma (z+1)&=z\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{z-1}e^{-t}\,dt\\&=z\Gamma (z).\end{aligned}}}$$

Then ${\displaystyle \Gamma (1)}$ can be calculated as: $${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\Gamma (1)&=\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{1-1}e^{-t}\,dt\\&=\int _{0}^{\infty }e^{-t}\,dt\\&=1.\end{aligned}}}$$

Thus we can show that ${\displaystyle \Gamma (n)=(n-1)!}$ for any positive integer n by induction. Specifically, the base case is that ${\displaystyle \Gamma (1)=1=0!}$, and the induction step is that ${\displaystyle \Gamma (n+1)=n\Gamma (n)=n(n-1)!=n!.}$

The identity ${\textstyle \Gamma (z)={\frac {\Gamma (z+1)}{z}}}$ can be used (or, yielding the same result, analytic continuation can be used) to uniquely extend the integral formulation for ${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)}$ to a meromorphic function defined for all complex numbers z, except integers less than or equal to zero.^[1] It is this extended version that is commonly referred to as the gamma function.^[1]

There are many equivalent definitions.

For a fixed integer ${\displaystyle m}$, as the integer ${\displaystyle n}$ increases, we have that ^[7] $${\displaystyle \lim _{n\to \infty }{\frac {n!\,\left(n+1\right)^{m}}{(n+m)!}}=1\,.}$$

If ${\displaystyle m}$ is not an integer, then this equation is meaningless, since in this section the factorial of a non-integer has not been defined yet. However, let us assume that this equation continues to hold when ${\displaystyle m}$ is replaced by an arbitrary complex number ${\displaystyle z}$, in order to define the Gamma function for non integers:

$${\displaystyle \lim _{n\to \infty }{\frac {n!\,\left(n+1\right)^{z}}{(n+z)!}}=1\,.}$$ Multiplying both sides by ${\displaystyle (z-1)!}$ gives $${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\Gamma (z)&=(z-1)!\\[8pt]&={\frac {1}{z}}\lim _{n\to \infty }n!{\frac {z!}{(n+z)!}}(n+1)^{z}\\[8pt]&={\frac {1}{z}}\lim _{n\to \infty }(1\cdot 2\cdots n){\frac {1}{(1+z)\cdots (n+z)}}\left({\frac {2}{1}}\cdot {\frac {3}{2}}\cdots {\frac {n+1}{n}}\right)^{z}\\[8pt]&={\frac {1}{z}}\prod _{n=1}^{\infty }\left[{\frac {1}{1+{\frac {z}{n}}}}\left(1+{\frac {1}{n}}\right)^{z}\right].\end{aligned}}}$$This infinite product, which is due to Euler,^[8] converges for all complex numbers ${\displaystyle z}$ except the non-positive integers, which fail because of a division by zero. Hence the above assumption produces a unique definition of ${\displaystyle z!}$.

Intuitively, this formula indicates that ${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)}$ is approximately the result of computing ${\displaystyle \Gamma (n+1)=n!}$ for some large integer ${\displaystyle n}$, multiplying by ${\displaystyle (n+1)^{z}}$ to approximate ${\displaystyle \Gamma (n+z+1)}$, and using the relationship ${\displaystyle \Gamma (x+1)=x\Gamma (x)}$ backwards ${\displaystyle n+1}$ times to get an approximation for ${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)}$; and furthermore that this approximation becomes exact as ${\displaystyle n}$ increases to infinity.

The infinite product for the reciprocal $${\displaystyle {\frac {1}{\Gamma (z)}}=z\prod _{n=1}^{\infty }\left[\left(1+{\frac {z}{n}}\right)/{\left(1+{\frac {1}{n}}\right)^{z}}\right]}$$ is an entire function, converging for every complex number z.

The definition for the gamma function due to Weierstrass is also valid for all complex numbers ${\displaystyle z}$ except non-positive integers: $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)={\frac {e^{-\gamma z}}{z}}\prod _{n=1}^{\infty }\left(1+{\frac {z}{n}}\right)^{-1}e^{z/n},}$$ where ${\displaystyle \gamma \approx 0.577216}$ is the Euler–Mascheroni constant.^[1] This is the Hadamard product of ${\displaystyle 1/\Gamma (z)}$ in a rewritten form. This definition appears in an important identity involving pi.^{[citation needed]}

Besides the fundamental property discussed above: $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z+1)=z\ \Gamma (z)}$$ other important functional equations for the gamma function are Euler's reflection formula $${\displaystyle \Gamma (1-z)\Gamma (z)={\frac {\pi }{\sin \pi z}},\qquad z\not \in \mathbb {Z} }$$ which implies $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z-n)=(-1)^{n-1}\;{\frac {\Gamma (-z)\Gamma (1+z)}{\Gamma (n+1-z)}},\qquad n\in \mathbb {Z} }$$ and the Legendre duplication formula $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)\Gamma \left(z+{\tfrac {1}{2}}\right)=2^{1-2z}\;{\sqrt {\pi }}\;\Gamma (2z).}$$

The duplication formula is a special case of the multiplication theorem (see ^[9] Eq. 5.5.6): $${\displaystyle \prod _{k=0}^{m-1}\Gamma \left(z+{\frac {k}{m}}\right)=(2\pi )^{\frac {m-1}{2}}\;m^{{\frac {1}{2}}-mz}\;\Gamma (mz).}$$

A simple but useful property, which can be seen from the limit definition, is: $${\displaystyle {\overline {\Gamma (z)}}=\Gamma ({\overline {z}})\;\Rightarrow \;\Gamma (z)\Gamma ({\overline {z}})\in \mathbb {R} .}$$

In particular, with z = a + bi, this product is $${\displaystyle |\Gamma (a+bi)|^{2}=|\Gamma (a)|^{2}\prod _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {1}{1+{\frac {b^{2}}{(a+k)^{2}}}}}}$$

If the real part is an integer or a half-integer, this can be finitely expressed in closed form: $${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}|\Gamma (bi)|^{2}&={\frac {\pi }{b\sinh \pi b}}\\[1ex]\left|\Gamma \left({\tfrac {1}{2}}+bi\right)\right|^{2}&={\frac {\pi }{\cosh \pi b}}\\[1ex]\left|\Gamma \left(1+bi\right)\right|^{2}&={\frac {\pi b}{\sinh \pi b}}\\[1ex]\left|\Gamma \left(1+n+bi\right)\right|^{2}&={\frac {\pi b}{\sinh \pi b}}\prod _{k=1}^{n}\left(k^{2}+b^{2}\right),\quad n\in \mathbb {N} \\[1ex]\left|\Gamma \left(-n+bi\right)\right|^{2}&={\frac {\pi }{b\sinh \pi b}}\prod _{k=1}^{n}\left(k^{2}+b^{2}\right)^{-1},\quad n\in \mathbb {N} \\[1ex]\left|\Gamma \left({\tfrac {1}{2}}\pm n+bi\right)\right|^{2}&={\frac {\pi }{\cosh \pi b}}\prod _{k=1}^{n}\left(\left(k-{\tfrac {1}{2}}\right)^{2}+b^{2}\right)^{\pm 1},\quad n\in \mathbb {N} \\[-1ex]&\end{aligned}}}$$

Perhaps the best-known value of the gamma function at a non-integer argument is $${\displaystyle \Gamma \left({\tfrac {1}{2}}\right)={\sqrt {\pi }},}$$ which can be found by setting ${\textstyle z={\frac {1}{2}}}$ in the reflection or duplication formulas, by using the relation to the beta function given below with ${\textstyle z_{1}=z_{2}={\frac {1}{2}}}$, or simply by making the substitution ${\displaystyle u={\sqrt {z}}}$ in the integral definition of the gamma function, resulting in a Gaussian integral. In general, for non-negative integer values of ${\displaystyle n}$ we have: $${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\Gamma \left({\tfrac {1}{2}}+n\right)&={(2n)! \over 4^{n}n!}{\sqrt {\pi }}={\frac {(2n-1)!!}{2^{n}}}{\sqrt {\pi }}={\binom {n-{\frac {1}{2}}}{n}}n!{\sqrt {\pi }}\\[8pt]\Gamma \left({\tfrac {1}{2}}-n\right)&={(-4)^{n}n! \over (2n)!}{\sqrt {\pi }}={\frac {(-2)^{n}}{(2n-1)!!}}{\sqrt {\pi }}={\frac {\sqrt {\pi }}{{\binom {-1/2}{n}}n!}}\end{aligned}}}$$ where the double factorial ${\displaystyle (2n-1)!!=(2n-1)(2n-3)\cdots (3)(1)}$. See Particular values of the gamma function for calculated values.

It might be tempting to generalize the result that ${\textstyle \Gamma \left({\frac {1}{2}}\right)={\sqrt {\pi }}}$ by looking for a formula for other individual values ${\displaystyle \Gamma (r)}$ where ${\displaystyle r}$ is rational, especially because according to Gauss's digamma theorem, it is possible to do so for the closely related digamma function at every rational value. However, these numbers ${\displaystyle \Gamma (r)}$ are not known to be expressible by themselves in terms of elementary functions. It has been proved that ${\displaystyle \Gamma (n+r)}$ is a transcendental number and algebraically independent of ${\displaystyle \pi }$ for any integer ${\displaystyle n}$ and each of the fractions ${\textstyle r={\frac {1}{6}},{\frac {1}{4}},{\frac {1}{3}},{\frac {2}{3}},{\frac {3}{4}},{\frac {5}{6}}}$.^[10] In general, when computing values of the gamma function, we must settle for numerical approximations.

The derivatives of the gamma function are described in terms of the polygamma function, ψ⁽⁰⁾(z): $${\displaystyle \Gamma '(z)=\Gamma (z)\psi ^{(0)}(z).}$$ For a positive integer m the derivative of the gamma function can be calculated as follows:

$${\displaystyle \Gamma '(m+1)=m!\left(-\gamma +\sum _{k=1}^{m}{\frac {1}{k}}\right)=m!\left(-\gamma +H(m)\right)\,,}$$ where H(m) is the mth harmonic number and γ is the Euler–Mascheroni constant.

For ${\displaystyle \Re (z)>0}$ the ${\displaystyle n}$th derivative of the gamma function is: $${\displaystyle {\frac {d^{n}}{dz^{n}}}\Gamma (z)=\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{z-1}e^{-t}(\log t)^{n}\,dt.}$$ (This can be derived by differentiating the integral form of the gamma function with respect to ${\displaystyle z}$, and using the technique of differentiation under the integral sign.)

Using the identity $${\displaystyle \Gamma ^{(n)}(1)=(-1)^{n}B_{n}(\gamma ,1!\zeta (2),\ldots ,(n-1)!\zeta (n))}$$ where ${\displaystyle \zeta (z)}$ is the Riemann zeta function, and ${\displaystyle B_{n}}$ is the ${\displaystyle n}$-th Bell polynomial, we have in particular the Laurent series expansion of the gamma function ^[11] $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)={\frac {1}{z}}-\gamma +{\frac {1}{2}}\left(\gamma ^{2}+{\frac {\pi ^{2}}{6}}\right)z-{\frac {1}{6}}\left(\gamma ^{3}+{\frac {\gamma \pi ^{2}}{2}}+2\zeta (3)\right)z^{2}+O(z^{3}).}$$

When restricted to the positive real numbers, the gamma function is a strictly logarithmically convex function. This property may be stated in any of the following three equivalent ways:

• For any two positive real numbers ${\displaystyle x_{1}}$ and ${\displaystyle x_{2}}$, and for any ${\displaystyle t\in [0,1]}$, $${\displaystyle \Gamma (tx_{1}+(1-t)x_{2})\leq \Gamma (x_{1})^{t}\Gamma (x_{2})^{1-t}.}$$
• For any two positive real numbers ${\displaystyle x_{1}}$ and ${\displaystyle x_{2}}$, and ${\displaystyle x_{2}}$ > ${\displaystyle x_{1}}$$${\displaystyle \left({\frac {\Gamma (x_{2})}{\Gamma (x_{1})}}\right)^{\frac {1}{x_{2}-x_{1}}}>\exp \left({\frac {\Gamma '(x_{1})}{\Gamma (x_{1})}}\right).}$$
• For any positive real number ${\displaystyle x}$, $${\displaystyle \Gamma ''(x)\Gamma (x)>\Gamma '(x)^{2}.}$$

The last of these statements is, essentially by definition, the same as the statement that ${\displaystyle \psi ^{(1)}(x)>0}$, where ${\displaystyle \psi ^{(1)}}$ is the polygamma function of order 1. To prove the logarithmic convexity of the gamma function, it therefore suffices to observe that ${\displaystyle \psi ^{(1)}}$ has a series representation which, for positive real x, consists of only positive terms.

Logarithmic convexity and Jensen's inequality together imply, for any positive real numbers ${\displaystyle x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}}$ and ${\displaystyle a_{1},\ldots ,a_{n}}$, $${\displaystyle \Gamma \left({\frac {a_{1}x_{1}+\cdots +a_{n}x_{n}}{a_{1}+\cdots +a_{n}}}\right)\leq {\bigl (}\Gamma (x_{1})^{a_{1}}\cdots \Gamma (x_{n})^{a_{n}}{\bigr )}^{\frac {1}{a_{1}+\cdots +a_{n}}}.}$$

There are also bounds on ratios of gamma functions. The best-known is Gautschi's inequality, which says that for any positive real number x and any s ∈ (0, 1), $${\displaystyle x^{1-s}<{\frac {\Gamma (x+1)}{\Gamma (x+s)}}<\left(x+1\right)^{1-s}.}$$

The behavior of ${\displaystyle \Gamma (x)}$ for an increasing positive real variable is given by Stirling's formula $${\displaystyle \Gamma (x+1)\sim {\sqrt {2\pi x}}\left({\frac {x}{e}}\right)^{x},}$$ where the symbol ${\displaystyle \sim }$ means asymptotic convergence: the ratio of the two sides converges to 1 in the limit ${\textstyle x\to +\infty }$.^[1] This growth is faster than exponential, ${\displaystyle \exp(\beta x)}$, for any fixed value of ${\displaystyle \beta }$.

Another useful limit for asymptotic approximations for ${\displaystyle x\to +\infty }$ is: $${\displaystyle {\Gamma (x+\alpha )}\sim {\Gamma (x)x^{\alpha }},\qquad \alpha \in \mathbb {C} .}$$

When writing the error term as an infinite product, Stirling's formula can be used to define the gamma function: ^[12] $${\displaystyle \Gamma \left(x\right)={\sqrt {\frac {2\pi }{x}}}\left({\frac {x}{e}}\right)^{x}\prod _{n=0}^{\infty }e^{-1}\left(1+{\frac {1}{x+n}}\right)^{{\frac {1}{2}}+x+n}}$$

Although the main definition of the gamma function—the Euler integral of the second kind—is only valid (on the real axis) for positive arguments, its domain can be extended with analytic continuation^[13] to negative arguments by shifting the negative argument to positive values by using either the Euler's reflection formula, $${\displaystyle \Gamma (-x)={\frac {1}{\Gamma (x+1)}}{\frac {\pi }{\sin {\big (}\pi (x+1){\big )}}},}$$ or the fundamental property, $${\displaystyle \Gamma (-x):={\frac {1}{-x}}\Gamma (-x+1),}$$ when ${\displaystyle x\not \in \mathbb {Z} }$. For example, $${\displaystyle \Gamma \left(-{\frac {1}{2}}\right)=-2\Gamma \left({\frac {1}{2}}\right).}$$

The behavior for non-positive ${\displaystyle z}$ is more intricate. Euler's integral does not converge for ${\displaystyle \Re (z)\leq 0}$, but the function it defines in the positive complex half-plane has a unique analytic continuation to the negative half-plane. One way to find that analytic continuation is to use Euler's integral for positive arguments and extend the domain to negative numbers by repeated application of the recurrence formula,^[1] $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)={\frac {\Gamma (z+n+1)}{z(z+1)\cdots (z+n)}},}$$ choosing ${\displaystyle n}$ such that ${\displaystyle z+n}$ is positive. The product in the denominator is zero when ${\displaystyle z}$ equals any of the integers ${\displaystyle 0,-1,-2,\ldots }$. Thus, the gamma function must be undefined at those points to avoid division by zero; it is a meromorphic function with simple poles at the non-positive integers.^[1]

For a function ${\displaystyle f}$ of a complex variable ${\displaystyle z}$, at a simple pole ${\displaystyle c}$, the residue of ${\displaystyle f}$ is given by: $${\displaystyle \operatorname {Res} (f,c)=\lim _{z\to c}(z-c)f(z).}$$

For the simple pole ${\displaystyle z=-n}$, the recurrence formula can be rewritten as: $${\displaystyle (z+n)\Gamma (z)={\frac {\Gamma (z+n+1)}{z(z+1)\cdots (z+n-1)}}.}$$ The numerator at ${\displaystyle z=-n,}$ is $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z+n+1)=\Gamma (1)=1}$$ and the denominator $${\displaystyle z(z+1)\cdots (z+n-1)=-n(1-n)\cdots (n-1-n)=(-1)^{n}n!.}$$ So the residues of the gamma function at those points are:^[14] $${\displaystyle \operatorname {Res} (\Gamma ,-n)={\frac {(-1)^{n}}{n!}}.}$$The gamma function is non-zero everywhere along the real line, although it comes arbitrarily close to zero as z → −∞. There is in fact no complex number ${\displaystyle z}$ for which ${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)=0}$, and hence the reciprocal gamma function ${\textstyle {\frac {1}{\Gamma (z)}}}$ is an entire function, with zeros at ${\displaystyle z=0,-1,-2,\ldots }$.^[1]

On the real line, the gamma function has a local minimum at z_min ≈ +1.46163214496836234126^[15] where it attains the value Γ(z_min) ≈ +0.88560319441088870027.^[16] The gamma function rises to either side of this minimum. The solution to Γ(z − 0.5) = Γ(z + 0.5) is z = +1.5 and the common value is Γ(1) = Γ(2) = +1. The positive solution to Γ(z − 1) = Γ(z + 1) is z = φ ≈ +1.618, the golden ratio, and the common value is Γ(φ − 1) = Γ(φ + 1) = φ! ≈ +1.44922960226989660037.^[17]

The gamma function must alternate sign between its poles at the non-positive integers because the product in the forward recurrence contains an odd number of negative factors if the number of poles between ${\displaystyle z}$ and ${\displaystyle z+n}$ is odd, and an even number if the number of poles is even.^[14] The values at the local extrema of the gamma function along the real axis between the non-positive integers are:

Γ(−0.50408300826445540925...^[18]) = −3.54464361115500508912...,

Γ(−1.57349847316239045877...^[19]) = 2.30240725833968013582...,

Γ(−2.61072086844414465000...^[20]) = −0.88813635840124192009...,

Γ(−3.63529336643690109783...^[21]) = 0.24512753983436625043...,

Γ(−4.65323776174314244171...^[22]) = −0.05277963958731940076..., etc.

There are many formulas, besides the Euler integral of the second kind, that express the gamma function as an integral. For instance, when the real part of z is positive,^[23] $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)=\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }e^{zt-e^{t}}\,dt}$$ and^[24] $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)=\int _{0}^{1}\left(\log {\frac {1}{t}}\right)^{z-1}\,dt,}$$ $${\displaystyle \Gamma (z)=2c^{z}\int _{0}^{\infty }t^{2z-1}e^{-ct^{2}}\,dt\,,\;c>0}$$ where the three integrals respectively follow from the substitutions ${\displaystyle t=e^{-x}}$, ${\displaystyle t=-\log x}$ ^[25] and ${\displaystyle t=cx^{2}}$^[26] in Euler's second integral. The last integral in particular makes clear the connection between the gamma function at half integer arguments and the Gaussian integral: if ${\displaystyle z=1/2,\;c=1}$ we get $${\displaystyle \Gamma (1/2)=2\int _{0}^{\infty }e^{-t^{2}}\,dt={\sqrt {\pi }}\;.}$$

Binet's first integral formula for the gamma function states that, when the real part of z is positive, then:^[27] $${\displaystyle \operatorname {log\Gamma } (z)=\left(z-{\frac {1}{2}}\right)\log z-z+{\frac {1}{2}}\log(2\pi )+\int _{0}^{\infty }\left({\frac {1}{2}}-{\frac {1}{t}}+{\frac {1}{e^{t}-1}}\right){\frac {e^{-tz}}{t}}\,dt.}$$ The integral on the right-hand side may be interpreted as a Laplace transform. That is, $${\displaystyle \log \left(\Gamma (z)\left({\frac {e}{z}}\right)^{z}{\sqrt {\frac {z}{2\pi }}}\right)={\mathcal {L}}\left({\frac {1}{2t}}-{\frac {1}{t^{2}}}+{\frac {1}{t(e^{t}-1)}}\right)(z).}$$