Questions tagged [polygamma]

For questions about, or related to the polygamma function.

The polygamma function of order $m$ is a meromorphic function on the complex plane defined to be the $(m + 1)$-th derivative of the logarithm of the gamma function; that is,

$$\psi^{(m)}(z) = \frac{d^{m + 1}}{dz^{m + 1}} \ln \Gamma(z)$$

Alternatively, this function can be denoted as $\psi_m$. These functions are holomorphic except at the non-positive integers, where they each have a pole of order $m + 1$.

When $m = 0$, $\psi_0$ is frequently called the digamma function, and $\psi_1$ is called the trigamma function.

These functions satisfy a recurrence relation

$$\psi_n(z + 1) = \psi_n(z) + (-1)^n n! z^{-n - 1}$$

and a reflection formula

$$\psi_n(1 - z) + (-1)^{n + 1} \psi_n(z) = (-1)^n \pi \frac{d^n}{dz^n} \cot(\pi z)$$ For more, see polygamma function on Wolfram MathWorld.

154 questions
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A closed form of $\sum_{k=1}^\infty \psi^{(1)} (k+a)\psi^{(1)} (k+b)$?

The following result $$ \sum_{k=1}^\infty\left(\psi^{(1)} (k)\right)^2 = 3\zeta(3) $$ where $\psi^{(1)}$ is the polygamma function makes me think there is a nice sum for the series $$ \sum_{k=1}^\infty \left(\psi^{(1)} (k+a)\right)^2…
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Evaluating $\int_0^{\Large\frac{\pi}{2}}\left(\frac{1}{\log(\tan x)}+\frac{1}{1-\tan(x)}\right)^3dx$

Using the method shown here, I have found the following closed form. $$ \int_0^{\!\Large \frac{\pi}{2}}\!\!\left(\frac{1}{\log(\tan x)}+\frac{1}{1-\tan x}\right)^2\! \mathrm dx= 3\ln2-\frac{4}{\pi}G -\frac12, $$ where $G$ is Catalan's constant.…
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Closed form for $\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{\Gamma\left(n+\tfrac14\right)}{2^n\,(4n+1)^2\,n!}$

I was experimenting with hypergeometric-like series and discovered the following conjecture (so far confirmed by more than $5000$ decimal…
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Integral ${\large\int}_0^1\ln^3\!\left(1+x+x^2\right)dx$

I'm interested in this integral: $$I=\int_0^1\ln^3\!\left(1+x+x^2\right)dx.\tag1$$ Can we prove…
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Conjectured closed form for $\operatorname{Li}_2\!\left(\sqrt{2-\sqrt3}\cdot e^{i\pi/12}\right)$

There are few known closed form for values of the dilogarithm at specific points. Sometimes only the real part or only the imaginary part of the value is known, or a relation between several different values is known: [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Discovering…
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Is this similarity just a coincidence?

Here is a graph of the function $y=-1/x$: If we add infinitely many similar functions with a shift of $\pi/2$ each in both directions, we get $\tan x$. But if we do the same only in one direction, we get "incomplete tangent": The yellow one is…
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Conjecture $\int_0^1\frac{\ln^2\left(1+x+x^2\right)}x dx\stackrel?=\frac{2\pi}{9\sqrt3}\psi^{(1)}(\tfrac13)-\frac{4\pi^3}{27\sqrt3}-\frac23\zeta(3)$

I'm interested in the following definite integral: $$I=\int_0^1\frac{\ln^2\!\left(1+x+x^2\right)}x\,dx.\tag1$$ The corresponding antiderivative can be evaluated with Mathematica, but even after simplification is quite clumsy. It matches results of…
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Integral $\int_0^\infty\Big[\log\left(1+x^2\right)-\psi\left(1+x^2\right)\Big]dx$

I found this intriguing integral: $$\int_0^\infty\Big[\log\left(1+x^2\right)-\psi\left(1+x^2\right)\Big]dx\approx0.84767315533332877726581...$$ where $\psi(z)=\partial_z\log\Gamma(z)$ is the digamma. A lookup in ISC+ (in "advanced" mode) returned a…
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Generalized FoxTrot Series $F(a,b,q,x) = \sum_{k=q}^{\infty} \dfrac {(-1)^{k+1} k^a}{k^b+x}$

The FoxTrot Series is defined as: $$F = \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \dfrac {(-1)^{k+1} k^2}{k^3+1}.$$ Using partial fraction decomposition we can show that $$F = \frac 13 \left[ 1 - \ln2 + \pi\operatorname{sech}\left(\frac 12 \sqrt3 \, \pi\right)…
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Asymptotic behavior of the generalized polygamma function

The generalized polygamma function$^{[1]}$$\!^{[2]}$ is defined as $$\psi^{(\nu)}(z)=e^{-\gamma\!\;\nu}\;\partial_\nu\!\left(\frac{e^{\gamma\!\;\nu}\;\zeta(\nu+1,z)}{\Gamma(-\nu)}\right),\tag1$$ where the order $\nu$ can be an arbitrary complex…
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Trigamma identity $4\,\psi_1\!\left(\frac15\right)+\psi_1\!\left(\frac25\right)-\psi_1\!\left(\frac1{10}\right)=\frac{4\pi^2}{\phi\,\sqrt5}.$

I heuristically discovered the following identity for the trigamma function, that I could not find in any tables or papers or infer from existing formulae (e.g. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5],…
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Prove the zeta log gamma integral $\int_0^1{\zeta(1-n,1-t)\ln\Gamma{(t)}}dt = \frac{H_n\zeta(-n)+\zeta’(-n)}{n}$

How to prove that $\displaystyle\int_0^1{\zeta(1-n,1-t)\ln\Gamma{(t)}}dt = \frac{H_n\zeta(-n)+\zeta’(-n)}{n}$? For integer values Wolfram Alpha gave me solutions to the integral in the form on the right hand side, so I guessed the form. It appears…
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The most complete reference for identities and special values for polylogarithm and polygamma functions

I am looking for a book, paper, web site, etc. (or several ones) containing the most complete list of identities and special values for the polylogarithm $\operatorname{Li}_s(z)$ and polygamma $\psi^{(a)}(z)$ functions, including generalizations to…
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What is the general formula of the sum $\sum_{k=0}^{n}(-1)^{k} \binom{n}{k}\binom{k/2}{m}$ for $m,n\in\mathbb{N}$?

The classical Euler's gamma function $\Gamma(z)$ can be defined by \begin{equation} \Gamma(z)=\lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{n!n^z}{\prod_{k=0}^n(z+k)}, \quad z\in\mathbb{C}\setminus\{0,-1,-2,\dotsc\}. \end{equation} The extended binomial coefficient…
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Evaluation of $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{n(2n+1)}=2-2\ln(2)$

I came across the following statements $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n(2 n+1)}=2-2\ln 2 \qquad \tag{1}$$ $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n(3 n+1)}=3-\frac{3 \ln 3}{2}-\frac{\pi}{2 \sqrt{3}} \qquad \tag{2}$$ $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n(4…
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