Gamma function
Función gamma
- Date
- 1729 · confidence high
- Place
- Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Credited to
- Leonhard Euler
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
In a letter to Christian Goldbach, Euler defined a continuous generalization of the factorial to non-integer numbers via an integral, solving the problem of interpolating the factorial sequence and giving rise to the gamma function.
The name 'gamma function' and the Γ notation were introduced by Adrien-Marie Legendre decades later; Euler himself originally defined it as an infinite product.
What it led to
- generalization of the factorial to complex numbers
- basis of the beta function and numerous formulas in mathematical analysis
- applications in number theory, probability and statistical physics