FILE: om845.

tex, 9 O t. 2001

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

arXiv:0712.3856v1 [math.CA] 22 Dec 2007

G. D. ANDERSON1, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

The authors survey re ent results in spe ial fun tions, parti ularly the gamma fun tion and the Gaussian hypergeometri fun tion.

Abstra t.

1.

Introdu tion

Conformal invariants are powerful tools in the study of quasi onformal

mappings, and many of these have expressions in terms of spe ial fun tions.
For instan e, the distortion results in geometri fun tion theory, su h as the
quasi onformal S hwarz Lemma, involve spe ial fun tions. A frequent task
is to simplify ompli ated inequalities, so as to larify the dependen e on important parameters without sa ri ing sharpness. For these reasons we were
led to study, as an independent subje t, various questions for spe ial fun tions su h as monotoneity properties and majorants/minorants in terms of
rational fun tions. These new inequalities gave rened versions of some lassi al distortion theorems for quasi onformal maps. The lasses of fun tions
that o ur in lude omplete ellipti integrals, hypergeometri fun tions, and
Euler's gamma fun tion.

The main part of our resear h is summarized in

[AVV5.
In the later development most of our resear h has involved appli ations
to geometri properties of quasi onformal maps. However, some of the questions on erning spe ial fun tions, raised in [AVV1, [AVV3, and [AVV5,
relate to spe ial fun tions whi h are useful in geometri fun tion theory in
general, not just to quasi onformal maps. In this survey our goal is to review
the latest developments of the latter type, due to many authors [A1[A9,
[AlQ1, AlQ2, AW, BPR1, BPR2, BPS, BP, EL, K1, K2, Ku.
The methods used in these studies are based on lassi al analysis. One
of the te hni al tools is the Monotone l'Hpital's Rule, stated in the next
paragraph, whi h played an important role in our work [AVV4[AVV5.
The authors dis overed this result in [AVV4, unaware that it had been used
earlier (without the name) as a te hni al tool in dierential geometry. See
[Ch, p. 124, Lemma 3.1 or [AQVV, p. 14 for relevant remarks.
1.1. Lemma. For < a < b < , let g and h be real-valued fun tions
that are ontinuous on [a, b] and dierentiable on (a, b), with h 6= 0 on (a, b).

1991 Mathemati s Subje t Classi ation. Primary 33-02, 33B15, 33C05. Se ondary
33C65, 33E05.
Key words and phrases. Spe ial fun tions, hypergeometri fun tions, gamma fun tion,
beta fun tion, Euler-Mas heroni onstant, ellipti integrals, generalized ellipti integrals,
mean values, arithmeti -geometri mean.
1This paper is an outgrowth of an invited talk given by the rst author at the 18th
Rolf Nevanlinna Colloquium in Helsinki, Finland, in August 2000.
1

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

If g /h is stri tly in reasing (resp. de reasing) on (a, b), then the fun tions
g(x) g(a)
h(x) h(a)

and

g(x) g(b)
h(x) h(b)

are also stri tly in reasing (resp. de reasing) on (a, b).

Graphing of the fun tions and omputer experiments in general played an
important role in our work. For instan e, the software that omes with the
book [AVV5 provides omputer programs for su h experiments.
We begin this survey by dis ussing some re ent results on the gamma
fun tion, in luding monotoneity and onvexity properties and lose approximations for the Euler-Mas heroni onstant. Hypergeometri fun tions have
a very entral role in this survey. We give here a detailed proof of the so alled Elliott's identity for these fun tions following an outline suggested by
Andrews, Askey, and Roy in [AAR, p. 138. This identity ontains, as a spe ial ase, the lassi al Legendre Relation and has been studied re ently in
[KV and [BPSV. After this we dis uss mean values, a topi related to omplete ellipti integrals and their estimation, and we present several sharp
approximations for omplete ellipti integrals.

We display inequalities for

hypergeometri fun tions that generalize the Landen relation, and on lude
the paper with a remark on re ent work of geometri mapping properties of
hypergeometri fun tions as a fun tion of a omplex argument.
This survey does not over re ent work on the appli ations of spe ial
fun tions to the hange of distan e under quasi onformal maps.

For this

subje t the interested reader may onsult [AVV5.

2.

The and fun tions

Throughout this paper

(z) =

will denote Euler's gamma fun tion, dened by

et tz1 dt,

Re z

> 0,

and then ontinued analyti ally to the nite omplex plane minus the set

(z + 1) = z (z) yields
(n + 1) = n! for any positive integer n. We also use the fa t that (1/2) =

. The beta fun tion is related to the gamma fun tion by B(a, b) =
(a)(b)/(a + b). The logarithmi derivative of the gamma fun tion will
of nonpositive integers.

The re urren e formula

be denoted, as usual, by

(z)

d
(z)
log (z) =
.
dz
(z)

The Euler-Mas heroni onstant

is dened as (see [A2, [TY, [Y)

lim Dn = 0.5772156649 . . . ; Dn
n

Then

(1) =

(1)

and

n
X
1
log n.
k
k=1

(1/2) = 2 log 2.

For a survey of the

gamma fun tion see [G, and for some inequalities for the gamma and psi
fun tions see [A1.

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

2.1. Approximation of the Euler-Mas heroni onstant. The onvergen e of the sequen e

Dn

to

is very slow (the speed of onvergen e is

studied by Alzer [A2). D. W. DeTemple [De studied a modied sequen e

whi h onverges faster and proved

1
1
< Rn <
,
24(n + 1)2
24n2

Rn

where

n
X
1
k=1



1
log n +
.
k
2

Now let

Sin e

h(n) = Rn , H(n) = n2 h(n), n > 1.

P
(n) = 1/n + nk=1 1/k, we see that

1
H(n) = (Rn )n2 = ((n) + 1/n log(n + ))n2 .
2
H(n) inH(1) = + 1 log(3/2) = 0.0173 . . .

Some omputer experiments led M. Vuorinen to onje ture that

reases on the interval

[1, )

from

1/24 = 0.0416 . . .. E. A. Karatsuba proved in [K1 that for all integers

n > 1, H(n) < H(n + 1), by lever use of Stirling's formula and Fourier

series. Moreover, using the relation = 1 (2) she obtained, for k 1,

to

ck 1 + (log k)

12k+1
X
r=1

d(k, r)

12k+1
X
r=1

d(k, r)
ck ,
r+1

where

ck =

2
+ 2k2 ek ,
(12k)!

giving exponential onvergen e.

indi ate that

((n + 1)/n)2 H(n)

d(k, r) = (1)r1

kr+1
,
(r 1)!(r + 1)

Some omputer experiments also seem to

is a de reasing onvex fun tion.

2.2. Gamma fun tion and volumes of balls. Formulas for geometri
obje ts, su h as volumes of solids and ar lengths of urves, often involve
spe ial fun tions.

For example, if

Bn

n denotes the volume of the unit ball

n1 denotes the (n 1)-dimensional
= {x : |x| = 1}, n > 2, then

= {x : |x| < 1} in Rn , and if

n1
surfa e area of the unit sphere S
n =

n/2
; n1 = nn .
((n/2) + 1)

n > 7 both n and n de rease to 0 ( f. [AVV5,

n nor n is monotone for n on [2, ). On the other
1/(n log n)
1/2 as n [AVV1, Lemma 2.40(2).
de reases to e
hand, n
Re ently H. Alzer [A4 has obtained the best possible onstants a, b, A, B,
, su h that
It is well known that for
2.28). However, neither

n+1
n+1
a n+1
6 n 6 b n+1
,
r
r
n1
n+A
n+B
6
,
6
2
n
2




1
2n
1
6 1+
6
1+
n
n1 n+1
n

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

n > 1. He showed that a = 2/ = 1.12837 . . . , b = e =

1.64872 . . . , A = 1/2, B = /2 1 = 0.57079 . . . , = 2 (log )/ log 2 =
0.34850 . . . , = 1/2. For some related results, see [KlR.
for all integers

2.3. Monotoneity properties. In [AnQ it is proved that the fun tion

log (x + 1)
x log x

f (x)

(2.4)
is stri tly in reasing from

(1, ) onto (1, 1).

In parti ular, for

x(1)x1 < (x) < xx1 .

(2.5)

x (1, ),

The proof required the following two te hni al lemmas, among others:
2.6. Lemma.

The fun tion

X
nx
g(x)
(n + x)3
n=1

is positive for x [1, 4).

2.7. Lemma.

The fun tion

h(x) x2 (1 + x) x (1 + x) + log (1 + x)

(2.8)

is positive for all x [1, ).

It was onje tured in [AnQ that the fun tion

in (2.4) is on ave on

(1, ).
2.9. Horst Alzer [A2 has given an elegant proof of the monotoneity of the
fun tion

in (2.4) by using the Monotone l'Hpital's Rule and the onvolu-

tion theorem for Lapla e transforms. In a later paper [A3 he has improved
the estimates in (2.5) to

x(x1) < (x) < x(x1) ,

(2.10)
where

1
2

2 /6

1 = 0.42278 . . . ,
x (1,

), he also showed that
2
/6 = 0.53385 . . . , 1.

possible. If

1
2

x (0, 1),


= 0.53385 . . .

2.11. Elbert and Laforgia [EL have shown that the fun tion
is positive for all

x > 1.

[0, )

onto

in Lemma 2.6

They used this result to prove that the fun tion

in Lemma 2.7 is stri tly de reasing from

in reasing from

are best

(2.10) holds with best onstants

[0, ).

(1, 0]

onto

[0, ) and stri tly

f < 0 for x > 1,
f is as in (2.4).

They also showed that

thus proving the Anderson-Qiu onje ture [AnQ, where

f in (2.4) is not
(0, 1), but is even a (non onstant)

so- alled Bernstein fun tion. That is, f > 0 and f is ompletely monotoni ,

i.e., f > 0, f < 0, f

> 0, . . . . In parti ular, the fun tion f is stri tly
in reasing and stri tly on ave on (0, ).
In fa t, they have proved the stronger result that 1/f is a Stieltjes trans-

2.12. Berg and Pedersen [BP have shown that the fun tion
only stri tly in reasing from

(0, )

onto

form, that is, an be written in the form

1
=c+
f (x)

d(t)
,
x+t

x > 0,

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

where the onstant

[0, )

is non-negative and

is a non-negative measure on

satisfying

In parti ular, for

1/f

d(t)
< .
1+t

they have shown by using Stirling's formula that

Also they have obtained

d(t) = H(t)dt,

where

c = 1.

is the ontinuous density

t log |(1 t)| + (k 1) log t , t (k 1, k), k = 1, 2, . . . ,

(log |(1 t)|)2 + (k 1)2 2
H(t) =

0
, t = 1, 2, . . . .

Here log denotes the usual natural logarithm. The density

as

tends to

0,

and

has no mass at

H(t) tends to 1/

0.

2.13. In The Lost Notebook and Other Unpublished Papers of Ramanujan

[Ra1, the Indian mathemati al genius, appears the following re ord:

(1 + x) =
where

 x x n 3
x o1/6
8x + 4x2 + x +
,

e
30

is a positive proper fra tion

30
= .9675
3
1/12 = .8071 7/12 = .3058
2/12 = .6160 8/12 = .3014
3/12 = .4867 9/12 = .3041
4/12 = .4029 10/12 = .3118
5/12 = .3509 11/12 = .3227
6/12 = .3207 1 = .3359
= 1.
0 =

Of ourse, the values in the above table, ex ept

are irrational and

hen e the de imals should be nonterminating as well as nonre urring. The

re ord stated above has been the subje t of intense investigations and is
reviewed in [BCK, page 48 (Question 754). This note of Ramanujan led the
authors of [AVV5 to make the following onje ture.
2.14. Conje ture. Let

G(x) = (e/x)x (1 + x)/

and

H(x) = G(x)6 8x3 4x2 x =

Then

is in reasing from

(1, )

into

(1/100, 1/30)

x
.
30
[AVV5, p. 476.

2.15. In a ni e pie e of work, E. A. Karatsuba [K2 has proved the above

onje ture. She did this by representing the fun tion

H(x) as an integral

for

whi h she was able to nd an asymptoti development. Her work also led to

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

an interesting asymptoti formula for the gamma fun tion:

 x x  3
1
11
79
3539

8x + 4x2 + x +

+
+
e
30 240x 3360x2
201600x3
1/6
9511
10051
47474887
a7
an

+
+
+

+
+

(x)
,
n+1
403200x4
716800x5
1277337600x6
x7
xn
1
where n+1 (x) = O( n+1 ), as x , and where ea h ak is given expli itly
x
(x + 1) =

in terms of the Bernoulli numbers.

3.

Hypergeometri fun tions

Given omplex numbers

hypergeometri fun tion

[1, )
(3.1)

a, b,

and

with

c 6= 0, 1, 2, . . . ,

for

Gaussian
C\

of

X
(a, n)(b, n) z n
F (a, b; c; z) = 2 F1 (a, b; c; z)
,
(c, n) n!
n=0

Here

the

is the analyti ontinuation to the slit plane

(a, 0) = 1

for

n = 1, 2, 3, . . ..

a 6= 0,

and

(a, n)

is the

|z| < 1.

shifted fa torial fun tion

(a, n) a(a + 1)(a + 2) (a + n 1)

The hypergeometri fun tion

w = F (a, b; c; z)

in (3.1) has the simple

dierentiation formula

ab
d
F (a, b; c; z) =
F (a + 1, b + 1; c + 1; z).
dz
c
The behavior of the hypergeometri fun tion near z = 1 in the three ases
a + b < c, a + b = c, and a + b > c, a, b, c > 0, is given by

F (a, b; c; 1) = (c)(cab)

(ca)(cb) , a + b < c,

B(a, b)F (a, b; a + b; z) + log(1 z)

(3.3)

= R(a, b) + O((1 z) log(1 z)),

F (a, b; c; z) = (1 z)cab F (c a, c b; c; z), c < a + b,

(3.2)

where

R(a, b) = 2 (a) (b), R(a) R(a, 1 a), R( 21 ) = log 16,

and

where log denotes the prin ipal bran h of the omplex logarithm. The above
asymptoti formula for the

zero-balan ed

ase

a + b = c is due to Ramanujan

(see [As, [Be1). This formula is implied by [AS, 15.3.10.

The asymptoti formula (3.3) gives a pre ise des ription of the behavior
of the fun tion

F (a, b; a + b; z)

near the logarithmi singularity

z = 1.

This

singularity an be removed by an exponential hange of variables and the

transformed fun tion will be nearly linear.

For a, b > 0, let k(x) = F (a, b; a+b; 1ex ), x > 0.

Then k is an in reasing and onvex fun tion with k ((0, )) = (ab/(a + b),
(a + b)/((a)(b))).

3.4. Theorem. [AQVV

Given a, b > 0, and a + b > c, d a + b c, the

fun tion (x) = F (a, b; c; 1 (1 + x)1/d ), x > 0, is in reasing and onvex,
with ((0, )) = (ab/(cd), (c)(d)/((a)(b))).
3.5. Theorem. [AQVV

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

3.6. Gauss ontiguous relations and derivative formula. The six fun -

tions F (a 1, b; c; z), F (a, b 1; c; z), F (a, b; c 1; z) are alled ontiguous to

F (a, b; c; z). Gauss dis overed 15 relations between F (a, b; c; z) and pairs of
its ontiguous fun tions [AS, 15.2.1015.2.27, [R2, Se tion 33. If we apply
these relations to the dierentiation formula (3.2), we obtain the following
useful formulas.

For a, b, c > 0, z (0, 1), let u = u(z) = F (a 1, b; c; z),

v = v(z) = F (a, b; c; z), u1 = u(1 z), v1 = v(1 z). Then
du
(3.8)
z
= (a 1)(v u),
dz
dv
= (c a)u + (a c + bz)v,
(3.9)
z(1 z)
dz

3.7. Theorem.

and

(3.10)

ab
z(1 z)F (a + 1, b + 1; c + 1; z) = (c a)u + (a c + bz)v.
c

Furthermore,
(3.11)

z(1z)



d
uv1 +u1 vvv1 = (1ab) (1z)uv1 zu1 v(12z)vv1 ) .
dz

Formulas (3.8)-(3.10) in Theorem 3.7 are well known. See, for example,
[AAR, 2.5.8. On the other hand, formula (3.11), whi h follows from (3.8)(3.9) is rst proved in [AQVV, 3.13 (4).
Note that the formula

dF
= (c b)F (a, b 1; c; z) + (b c + az)F (a, b; c; z)
dz
follows from (3.9) if we use the symmetry property F (a, b; c; z) = F (b, a; c; z).

(3.12)

z(1 z)

3.13. Corollary.

c,

then

With the notation of Theorem 3.7, if a (0, 1), b = 1a <

uv1 + u1 v vv1 = u(1) =

4.
The fun tion
(4.1)

((c))2
.
(c + a 1)(c a + 1)

Hypergeometri differential equation

F (a, b; c; z)

satises the hypergeometri dierential equation

z(1 z)w + [c (a + b + 1)z]w abw = 0.

Kummer dis overed solutions of (4.1) in various domains, obtaining 24 in

all; for a omplete list of his solutions see [R2, pp. 174, 175.

If 2c = a + b + 1 then both F (a, b; c; z) and F (a, b; c; 1 z)

satisfy (4.1) in the lens-shaped region {z : 0 < |z| < 1, 0 < |1 z| < 1}.
2
2
(2) If 2c = a + b + 1 then both F (a, b; c; z ) and F (a, b; c; 1 z ) satisfy the
dierential equation

4.2. Lemma. (1)

(4.3)

z(1 z 2 )w + [2c 1 (2a + 2b + 1)z 2 ]w 4abzw = 0

in the ommon part of the disk {z : |z| < 1} and the lemnis ate {z : |1z 2 | <
1}.

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

F (a, b; c; z)
F (a, b; a + b + 1 c; 1 z) are solutions of (4.1) in {z : 0 < |z| < 1} and
{z : 0 < |1 z| < 1}, respe tively. But a + b + 1 c = c under the stated
hypotheses. The result (2) follows from result (1) by the hain rule. 

4.4. Lemma. The fun tion F (a, b; c;

1 z 2 ) satises the dierential equaProof. By Kummer ( f. [R2, pp. 174-177), the fun tions

and

tion

Z 3 (1 Z)zw {Z(1 Z) + [c (a + b + 1)Z]Zz 2 }w abz 3 w = 0,

2
in the subregion of the right half-plane bounded by the
lemnis ate r =
i
2
2 cos(2), /4 /4, z = re . Here Z = 1 z , where the
square root indi ates the prin ipal bran h.

Proof. From (4.1), the dierential equation for

w = F (a, b; c; t)

is given

by

Now put

dw
d2 w
abw = 0.
t(1 t) 2 + [c (a + b + 1)t]
dt
dt

t = 1 z 2 . Then
dz
t dt
z d2 t
1
= ,
= ,
= 3
2
dt
z dz
t dz
t

and

t dw d2 w
t2 d2 w
1 dw
dw
=
,
.
=
3
dt
z dz dt2
z 2 dz 2
z dz

So

i t 
h t2
1 i h
w abw = 0.
t(1 t) 2 w 3 w + c (a + b + 1)t
z
z
z

3
Multiplying through by z and repla ing t by Z
1 z 2 gives the result. 
If

w1

their

and

w2

are two solutions of a se ond order dierential equation, then

Wronskian

is dened to be

W (w1 , w2 ) w1 w2 w2 w1 .

4.5. Lemma. [AAR, Lemma 3.2.6

solutions of

, then

If w1 and w2 are two linearly independent

(4.1)

W (z) = W (w1 , w2 )(z) =

where A is a onstant.

A
,
z c (1 z)a+bc+1

(Note the misprint in [AAR, (3.10), where the oe ient

missing from the rst term.)
4.6. Lemma.
(4.7)

If 2c = a + b + 1 then, in the notation of Theorem

3.7

is

(c a)(uv1 + u1 v) + (a 1)vv1 = A z 1c (1 z)1c .

Proof. If

2c = a + b + 1

are solutions of (4.1). Sin e

we have

x(1 x)

v(z) and v(1 z)

W (z) = W (v1 , v)(z) = v (z)v1 (z) v(z)v1 (z),

then by Lemma 4.2(1), both

z(1 z)W (z) = z(1 z)(v v1 vv1 )

= (c a)(uv1 + u1 v) + (2a + b 2c)vv1
= (c a)(uv1 + u1 v) + (a 1)vv1 .

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

2c = a + b + 1,
result follows. 

Next, sin e
and the

Lemma 4.5 shows that

Note that in the parti ular ase

c = 1, a = b =

z c (1 z)c W (z) = A,

1
2 the right side of (4.7) is

onstant and the result is similar to Corollary 3.13. This parti ular ase is
Legendre's Relation (5.3), and this proof of it is due to Duren [Du.
4.8. Lemma. If a, b > 0, c 1, and 2c = a + b + 1, then the onstant A
in Lemma 4.6 is given by A = ((c))2 /((a)(b)). In parti ular, if c = 1
then Lemma 4.6 redu es to Legendre's Relation (5.8) for generalized ellipti
integrals.

Proof. The idea of the proof is to repla e the possibly unbounded hypergeometri fun tions in formula (4.7) by bounded or simpler ones. Therefore
we onsider three ases.

C ase (1): c 2. Now a + b c + 1 3. By (3.3) or [AS, 15.3.3, we have

u(z) = (1z)2c F (c+1a, cb; c; z),

u1 (z) = z 2c F (c+1a, cb; c; 1z),

v(z) = (1 z)1c F (c a, c b; c; z),

v1 (z) = z 1c F (c a, c b; c; 1 z).

Hen e

A = (c a)[(1 z)F (c + 1 a, c b; c; z)F (c a, c b; c; 1 z)

+zF (c + 1 a, c b; c; 1 z)F (c a, c b; c; z)]
Now, sin e

+(a 1)F (c a, c b; c; z)F (c a, c b; c; 1 z).

a + b c = c 1,

letting

z 0,

from (3.3) we get

(c)(c 1)
(c)(c 1)
+ (a 1)
(a)(b))
(a)(b)
2
(c)(c 1)
((c))
= (c 1)
=
,
(a)(b)
(a)(b)

A = (c a)

as laimed.

C ase (2): 1 < c < 2.

Now,

1 < c < a + b < c + 1 < 3.

Then

A = (ca)[(1z)c1 u(z)F (ca, cb; c; 1z)+z c1 u1 (z)F (ca, cb; c; z)]

Now letting

+(a 1)F (c a, c b; c; z)F (c a, c b; c; 1 z).

z 0,

from (3.3), as in Case (1), we get

(c)(c 1)
(c)(c 1)
+ (a 1)
(a)(b)
(a)(b)
2
((c))
(c)(c 1)
=
,
= (c 1)
(a)(b)
(a)(b)

A = (c a)

as laimed.

C ase (3): c = 1. Now a + b = 1. Then

A = (1 a)[u(z)v1 (z) + u1 (z)v(z) v(z)v1 (z)]
= (1 a)u1 (z)v(z) + (1 a)v1 (z)[u(z) v(z)].

10

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

From [R1,

Ex. 21(4), p.71 we have

u(z) v(z) = F (a 1, b; c; z) F (a, b; c; z)

cb
zF (a, b; c + 1; z) zF (a, b; c; z),
=
c
so that

as

cb
u(z) v(z)
=
F (a, b; c + 1; z) F (a, b; c; z) b/c,
z
c
z 0. Also, by (3.3), zv1 (z) 0 as z 0. Hen e, letting z 0,

we get

(c)(c + 1 a b)
(c + 1 a)(c b)
2
((c))
((c))2
= (1 a)
=
,
(1 a)(a)(b)
(a)(b)

A = (1 a)u1 (1) = (1 a)

as laimed.

(c) = (1) = 1, (b) = (1 a), and thus by [AS,

A = 1/((a)(1 a)) = (sin a)/. 

Note that, in Case (3),

6.1.17

(a, b, c) there are numerous ases where the hyperF (a, b; c; z) redu es to a simpler fun tion (see [PBM).

For rational triples

geometri fun tion

generalized ellipti integrals, whi h we

For a, r (0, 1), the generalized ellipti integral of the rst

Other important parti ular ases are

will now dis uss.

kind

is given by

Ka = Ka (r) = F (a, 1 a; 1; r 2 )
2
Z /2
(tan t)12a (1 r 2 sin2 t)a dt,
= (sin a)
0

Ka = Ka (r) = Ka (r ).
We also dene

a (r) =
The

r =

1 r2.

invariant of the linear dierential equation

w + pw + qw = 0,

(4.9)
where

Ka (r)
,
2 sin(a) Ka (r)

and

are fun tions of

z,

is dened to be

1
1
I q p p2
2
4
( f. [R2,p.9). If

w1 and w2 are two linearly independent solutions

w w2 /w1 satises the dierential equation

then their quotient

Sw (z) = 2I,
where

Sw

is the S hwarzian derivative

Sw

w
w

w
w

2

and the primes indi ate dierentiations ( f. [R2, pp. 18,19).

of (4.9),

11

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

From these onsiderations and the fa t that

Ka (r)

and

Ka (r)

are linearly

independent solutions of (4.3) (see [AQVV, (1.11)), it follows that

w = a (r)

satises the dierential equation

Sw (r) =
The

8a(1 a) 1 + 6r 2 3r 4
+
.
(r )2
2r 2 (r )4

generalized ellipti integral of the se ond kind

is given by

F (a 1, 1 a; 1; r 2 )
2
Z /2
(tan t)12a (1 r 2 sin2 t)1a dt
= (sin a)

Ea = Ea (r)

Ea = Ea (r) = Ea (r ),

a =

For

1
2,

Ea (0) =

,
2

Ea (1) =

Ka

Ea

redu e to

and

sin(a)
.
2(1 a)
K

and

E,

respe tively, the usual ellipti

integrals of the rst and se ond kind, respe tively. Likewise

1/2 (r) = (r),

the modulus of the well-known Grtzs h ring in the plane [LV.

The generalized ellipti integrals Ka and Ea satisfy the differential equations

4.10. Corollary.

dKa
d2 Ka
4a(1 a)rKa = 0,
+ (1 3r 2 )
2
dr
dr
dEa
d2 Ea
+ 4(1 a)2 rEa = 0,
r(r )2 2 + (r )2
dr
dr
r(r )2

(4.11)

(4.12)

respe tively.

Proof. These follow from (4.3).

For

a=

1
2 these redu e to well-known dierential equations [AVV5, pp.

474-475, [BF.

5.

Identities of Legendre and Elliott

In geometri fun tion theory the omplete ellipti integrals

K(r) and E(r)

play an important role. These integrals may be dened, respe tively, as

K(r) = 2 F ( 12 , 12 ; 1; r 2 ), E(r) = 2 F ( 12 , 21 ; 1; r 2 ),
for

1 < r < 1.

These are

Ka (r)

and

Ea (r),

respe tively, with

a=

1
2 . We

also onsider the fun tions

K = K (r) = K(r ),
K(0) = /2,

0 < r < 1,

K(1 ) = +,

and

where r

E = E (r) = E(r ),
1 r2.

0 6 r 6 1,

For example, these fun tions o ur in the following

quasi onformal ounterpart of the S hwarz Lemma [LV:

12

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

5.1. Theorem. For K [1, ), let w be a K -quasi onformal mapping of

the unit disk D = {z : |z| < 1} into the unit disk D = {w : |w| < 1} with
w(0) = 0. Then

|w(z)| 6 K (|z|),

where
K (r) 1

(5.2)

1
(r)
K

and (r)

K (r)
.
2K(r)

This result is sharp in the sense that for ea h z D and K [1, ) there is
an extremal K -quasi onformal mapping that takes the unit disk D onto the
unit disk D with w(0) = 0 and |w(z)| = K (|z|) (see [LV, p. 63).
It is well known [BF that the omplete ellipti integrals

and

satisfy

the Legendre relation

EK + E K KK =

(5.3)

.
2

For several proofs of (5.3) see [Du.

In 1904, E. B. Elliott [E ( f. [AVV3) obtained the following generalization
of this result.
5.4. Theorem.

If a, b, c > 0 and 0 < x < 1 then

F1 F2 + F3 F4 F2 F3 =

(5.5)

(a + b + 1)(b + c + 1)
.
(a + b + c + 32 )(b + 21 )

where
F1
F2
F3
F4


1
1
=F
+ a, c; 1 + a + b; x ,
2
2


1
1
a, + c; 1 + b + c; 1 x ,
=F
2
2


1
1
=F
+ a, c; 1 + a + b; x ,
2
2


1
1
= F a, + c; 1 + b + c; 1 x .
2
2

Clearly (5.3) is a spe ial ase of (5.5), when

r2.

a = b = c = 0

and

x =

For a dis ussion of generalizations of Legendre's Relation see Karatsuba

and Vuorinen [KV and Balasubramanian, Ponnusamy, Sunanda Naik, and

Vuorinen [BPSV.
Elliott proved (5.5) by a lever hange of variables in multiple integrals.
Another proof was suggested without details in [AAR, p. 138, and here we
provide the missing details.

Proof of Theorem 5.4. In parti ular, let y1 F3 , y2 xab (1

b+c
x) F2 . Then by [R2, pp. 174, 175 or [AAR, (3.2.12), (3.2.13), y1 and y2
are linearly independent solutions of (4.1).
By (3.12),
(5.6)

x(1x)y1 = a + b + c +

1
1
1

F1 + [(a + b + c + ) + (a + )x]F3 ,
2
2
2

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

and by (3.9),


x(1 x)y2 =x(1 x) (a + b)xab1 (1 x)b+c

(b + c)xab (1 x)b+c1 F2

1

xab (1 x)b+c a + b + c + F4
2


1

1

+ c + (1 x))F2 .
+ (a + b + c +
2
2

(5.7)

Multiplying (5.7) by

y1

and (5.6) by

y2

and subtra ting, we obtain

x(1 x)(y2 y1 y1 y2 ) = a + b + c +

1
ab
x
(1 x)b+c F1 F2
2


1

1

+ a + x xab (1 x)b+c F2 F3
+ a+b+c+
2
2
ab1
+ x(1 x)[(a + b)x
(1 x)b+c

+ (b + c)xab (1 x)b+c1 ]F2 F3

1

+ xab (1 x)b+c a + b + c + F3 F4
2


1

1

+ xab (1 x)b+c (a + b + c +
+ c + (1 x) F2 F3
2
2
1
ab
b+c
(1 x) F1 F2
= a+b+c+ x
2

1

+ xab (1 x)b+c (a + b + c +
2
1

+ a + x + (a + b)(1 x)
2

1

1

+ (b + c)x a + b + c +
+ c + (1 x) F2 F3
2
2
1

ab
b+c
+x
(1 x)
a + b + c + F3 F4
2
1
ab
= a+b+c+ x
(1 x)b+c F1 F2
2



+ xab (1 x)b+c a + b + c + 12 F2 F3
1

+ a + b + c + xab (1 x)b+c F3 F4 .
2

So

x(1 x)W (y2 , y1 ) =

xa+b (1

A
x)bc

= xab (1 x)b+c a + b + c +
by Lemma 4.5. Thus

1

[F1 F2 + F3 F4 F2 F3 ]
2

F1 F2 + F3 F4 F2 F3 = A,
where

is a onstant.

13

14

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

Now, by (3.3),

F1 F2
as

tends to

x 1,

sin e

Next

where

F
1
2

1
(a + b + 1)(b + c + 1)
1
+ a, c; a + b + 1; 1 =
2
2
(b + 21 )(a + b + c + 32 )

+ a + ( 21 c) = a c < a + b + 1.

F3 F4 F3 F2 = F3 (F4 F2 ),
F4 F2 onst (1 x)2 + O((1 x)3 ), and
F3 =

if

a+

then

1
2

1
2

(a + b + 1)(b + c + 1)
(b + 12 )(a + b + c + 12 )

c < a + b + 1,

or

c < b,

i.e.,

b>0

or

c > 0.

c = b = 0,

If

R(a + 21 , 12 c)
+ O((1 x) log(1 x))
B(a + 21 , 12 c)
by (3.3). In either ase the produ t F3 (F4 F2 ) tends to 0 as x 1. The
1
1
third ase a+ + c > a+b+1 is impossible sin e we are assuming that b, c
2
2
1
3
are nonnegative. Thus A = (a+ b+ 1)(b+ c+ 1)/((b+ )(a+ b+ c+ )),
2
2
as desired. 
F3 =

The generalized ellipti integrals satisfy the identity

sin(a)
.
4(1 a)

Ea Ka + Ea Ka Ka Ka =

(5.8)

This follows from Elliott's formula (5.5) and ontains the lassi al relation
of Legendre (5.3) as a spe ial ase.
Finally, we re ord the following formula of Kummer [Kum, p. 63, Form.
30:

F (a, b; a + b c + 1; 1 x)F (a + 1, b + 1; c + 1; x)
c
+
F (a, b; c; x)F (a + 1, b + 1; a + b c + 2; 1 x)
a+bc+1
(a + b c + 1)(c + 1)
.
= Dxc (1 x)cab1 , D =
(a + 1)(b + 1)
This formula, like Elliott's identity, may be rewritten in many dierent ways
if we use the ontiguous relations of Gauss. Note also the spe ial ase

c=

a + b c + 1.
6.
The

Mean values

arithmeti -geometri mean

of positive numbers

a, b > 0

is the limit

AGM (a, b) = lim an = lim bn ,

where

a0 = a, b0 = b,

and for

n = 0, 1, 2, 3, ...,

an+1 = A(an , bn ) (an + bn )/2,

bn+1 = G(an , bn )

are the arithmeti and geometri means of

M,

we also onsider the

t-modi ation

an

and

dened as

Mt (a, b) = M (at , bt )1/t .

bn , resp.

an bn ,

For a mean value

15

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

For example, the

and the

power mean

logarithmi mean

a, b > 0 is
1/t
 t
a + bt
,
At (a, b) =
2
of

is

ab
.
log(b/a)

L(a, b) =
The power mean is the

t-modi ation

of the arithmeti mean

A1 (a, b).

The onne tion between mean values and ellipti integrals is provided by
Gauss's amazing result

AGM (1, r ) =

.
2K(r)

This formula motivates the question of nding minorant/majorant fun tions

for K(r) in terms of mean values.
Lt (1, x), t > 0, in reases with t by

For a xed

x > 0

the fun tion

[VV, Theorem 1.2 (1).

t 7

The two-sided

inequality

L3/2 (1, x) > AG(1, x) > L(1, x)

holds; the se ond inequality was pointed out in [CV, and the rst one, due
to J. and P. Borwein [BB2, proves a sharp estimate settling a question raised
in onne tion with [VV. Combined with the identity above, this inequality
yields a very pre ise inequality for

K(r).

Several inequalities between mean values have been proved re ently. See,
for instan e, [AlQ2, [QS, [S1, [S2, [S3, [T, [C, and [Br.
Finally, we remark that the arithmeti -geometri mean, together with
Legendre's Relation, played a entral role in a rapidly onverging algorithm
for the number

7.

in [Sa. See also [BB1, H, Le, Lu.

Approximation of ellipti integrals

E ient algorithms for the numeri al evaluation of

K(r)

and

E(r)

are

based on the arithmeti -geometri mean iteration of Gauss. This fa t led to

some lose majorant/minorant fun tions for

K(r) in terms of mean values in

[VV.

a and b be the semiaxes of an ellipse with a > b and e entri ity

a2 b2 /a, and let L(a, b) denote the ar length of the ellipse. Without
of generality we take a = 1. In 1742, Ma laurin ( f. [AB) determined

Next, let

e=

loss
that

L(1, b) = 4E(e) = 2 2 F1 ( 12 , 21 ; 1; e2 ).
In 1883, Muir ( f. [AB) proposed that L(1, b) ould be approximated by
3/2 )/2]2/3 . Sin e this expression has a lose resemthe expression 2[(1 + b
blan e to the power mean values studied in [VV, it is natural to study the
sharpness of this approximation. Close numeri al examination of the error
in this approximation led Vuorinen [V2 to onje ture that Muir's approximation is a lower bound for the ar length. Letting
asked whether
(7.1)

r=

1 b2 ,


  1 + (r )3/2 2/3
2
E(r) = 2 F1 21 , 12 ; 1; r 2 >

Vuorinen

16

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

for all

r [0, 1].

In [BPR1 Barnard and his oauthors proved that inequality (7.1) is true.
In fa t, they expanded both fun tions into Ma laurin series and proved that
the dieren es of the orresponding oe ients of the two series all have the
same sign.
Later, the same authors [BPR2 dis overed an upper bound for

that

omplements the lower bound in (7.1):

  1 + (r )2 1/2

2
,
E(r) = 2 F1 12 , 21 ; 1; r 2 6

(7.2)

0 6 r 6 1.

See also [BPS.

In [BPR2 the authors have onsidered 13 histori al approximations (by

Kepler, Euler, Peano, Muir, Ramanujan, and others) for the ar length of an
ellipse and determined a linear ordering among them. Their main tool was
the following Lemma 7.3 on generalized hypergeometri fun tions.

These

fun tions are dened by the formula

X
pi=1 (ai , n) z n
,
p Fq (a1 , a2 , , ap ; b1 , b2 , , bq ; z) 1 +
q (b , n) n!
n=1 j=1 j
where

bj

and

are positive integers and in whi h no denominator parameter

is permitted to be zero or a negative integer. When

p = 2 and q = 1,
F (a, b; c; z).

this

redu es to the usual Gaussian hypergeometri fun tion

7.3. Lemma.

Suppose a, b > 0. Then for any satisfying

3 F2 (n, a, b; 1

for all integers n > 1.

7.4. Some inequalities for

ab
1+a+b

< < 1,

+ a + b, 1 + n; 1) > 0

K(r).

At the end of the pre eding se tion we

K(r) in terms
of mean values. Another sour e for the approximation of K(r) is based on
the asymptoti behavior at the singularity r = 1, where K(r) has logarith-

pointed out that upper and lower bounds an be found for

mi growth. Some of the approximations motivated by this aspe t will be

dis ussed next.
Anderson, Vamanamurthy, and Vuorinen [AVV2 approximated
the inverse hyperboli tangent fun tion

(7.5)

for

0 < r < 1.

arth r
r

!1/2

arth,

K(r)

by

obtaining the inequalities

< K(r) <

arth r
,
2 r

Further results were proved by Laforgia and Sismondi [LS.

Khnau [Ku and Qiu [Q proved that, for

0 < r < 1,

K(r)
9
<
.
8 + r2
log(4/r )
Qiu and Vamanamurthy [QVa proved that

K(r)
1
< 1 + (r )2

log(4/r )
4

for

0 < r < 1.

17

TOPICS IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

Several inequalities for

K(r) are given in [AVV5, Theorem 3.21.

Later Alzer

[A3 showed that

1+
for

0 < r < 1.

K(r)
1 (r )2 <
,
4 log 2
log(4/r )

1
4 and

He also showed that the onstants

the above inequalities are best possible.

/(4 log 2) 1

in

For further renements, see [QVu1, (2.24) and [Be.

Alzer and Qiu [AlQ1 have written a related manus ript in whi h, besides
proving many inequalities for omplete ellipti integrals, they have rened
(7.5) by proving that

They also showed

arth r
 arth r 3/4
< K(r) <
.
2
r
2 r
that 3/4 and 1 are the best exponents

for

(arth r)/r

on

the left and right, respe tively.

One of the interesting tools of these authors is the following lemma of
Biernaki and Krzy [BK (for a detailed proof see [PV1):

Let
. be real numbers, and let the power
P rn and nsn , n = 1, 2, . . P

n
r
x
and
S(x)
=
series R(x) =
n
n=1
n=1 sn x be onvergent for |x| <
1. If sn > 0 for n = 1, 2, . . ., and if rn /sn is stri tly in reasing (resp.
de reasing) for n = 1, 2, . . ., then the fun tion R/S is stri tly in reasing
(resp. de reasing) on (0, 1).

7.6. Lemma.

7.7. Generalized ellipti integrals. For the ase of generalized ellipti

integrals some inequalities are given in [AQVV.

B. C. Carlson has intro-

du ed some standard forms for ellipti integrals involving ertain symmetri

integrals. Approximations for these fun tions an be found in [CG.
8.

Landen inequalities

It is well known ( f. [BF) that the omplete ellipti integral of the rst
kind satises the Landen identities

 
2 r
= (1 + r)K(r),
K
1+r

Re all that

1r
1+r

1+r
K (r).
2

1 1

2
2 F ( 2 , 2 ; 1; r ). It is thus natural to onsider, as sug-

K(r) =

gested in [AVV3, the problem of nding an analogue of these formulas for

F (a, b; c; r) for a, b, c > 0 and

(a, b, c) are lose to ( 12 , 12 , 1). From
logarithmi singularity at r = 1, if

the zero-balan ed hypergeometri fun tion

a + b = c,

at least when the parameters

(3.3) it is lear that

a, b > 0, c = a + b

F (a, b; c; r 2 )

has a

( f. [AAR). Some renements of the growth estimates

were given in [ABRVV and [PV1.

Qiu and Vuorinen [QVu1 proved the following Landen-type inequalities:
For

a, b (0, 1), c = a + b,

 2 
2 r
6 (1 + r)F (a, b; c; r 2 )
F a, b; c;
1+r

 2 
2 r
1
6 F a, b; c;
+ (R log 16)
1+r
B

18

G. D. ANDERSON, M. K. VAMANAMURTHY, AND M. VUORINEN

and



 
1r 2
1+r
2
F (a, b; c; 1 r ) 6 F a, b; c;
2
1+r


1+r
1
2
6
F (a, b; c; 1 r ) + (R log 16) ,
2
B

a = b = 21 . Here B = B(a, b),

the beta fun tion, and R = R(a, b) = 2 (a) (b), where is as given
with equality in ea h instan e if and only if

in Se tion 2.
9.

Hypergeometri series as an analyti fun tion

For rational triples

(a, b, c)

the hypergeometri fun tion often an be ex-

pressed in terms of elementary fun tions. Long lists with su h triples ontaining hundreds of fun tions an be found in [PBM.

For example, the

fun tions

and

f (z) zF (1, 1; 2; z) = log(1 z)

1
g(z) zF (1, 1/2; 3/2; z ) = log
2
2

1+z
1z

have the property that they both map the unit disk into a strip domain.
Observing that they both orrespond to the ase
(see [PV1, PV2) whether there exists

zF (a, b; a + b; z 2 )

with

a, b (0, )

>0

c = a + b one may ask

zF (a, b; a + b; z) and

su h that

map into a strip domain.

Membership of hypergeometri fun tions in some spe ial lasses of univalent fun tions is studied in [PV1, PV2, BPV2.

Referen es
[AS
[AB
[A1
[A2
[A3
[A4
[A5
[A6
[A7
[A8
[A9
[AlQ1

M. Abramowitz and I. A. Stegun, eds: Handbook of Mathemati al Fun tions with Formulas, Graphs and Mathemati al Tables, Dover, New York, 1965.
G. Almkvist and B. Berndt: Gauss, Landen, Ramanujan, the arithmeti geometri mean, ellipses, pi, and the Ladies Diary, Amer. Math. Monthly 95
(1988), 585608.
H. Alzer: On some inequalities for the gamma and psi fun tions, Math. Comp.
66 (1997), 373389.
H. Alzer: Inequalities for the gamma and polygamma fun tions, Abh. Math.
Sem. Univ. Hamburg 68, (1998), 363372.
H. Alzer: Sharp inequalities for the omplete ellipti integral of the rst kind,
Math. Pro . Camb. Phil. So . 124 (1998), 309314.
H. Alzer: Inequalities for the gamma fun tion, Pro . Amer. Math. So . 128
(2000), 141147.
n
H. Alzer: Inequalities for the volume of the unit ball in R , J. Math. Anal.
Appl. 252 (2000), 353363.
H. Alzer: A power mean inequality for the gamma fun tion, Monatsh. Math.
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S. R. Tims and J. A. Tyrell:

ANDERSON:
Department of Mathemati s
Mi higan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
email:

andersonmath.msu.edu

FAX: +1-517-432-1562

VAMANAMURTHY:
Department of Mathemati s
University of Au kland
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FAX: +649-373-7457

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