The Risch algorithm shows that Ei is not an elementary function. The definition above can be used for positive values of x, but the integral has to be understood in terms of the Cauchy principal value due to the singularity of the integrand at zero.
For complex values of the argument, the definition becomes ambiguous due to branch points at 0 and {\displaystyle \infty }.[1] Instead of Ei, the following notation is used,[2]
where {\displaystyle \gamma } is the Euler–Mascheroni constant. The sum converges for all complex {\displaystyle z}, and we take the usual value of the complex logarithm having a branch cut along the negative real axis.
This formula can be used to compute {\displaystyle E_{1}(x)} with floating point operations for real {\displaystyle x} between 0 and 2.5. For {\displaystyle x>2.5}, the result is inaccurate due to cancellation.
A faster converging series was found by Ramanujan:[6]
Relative error of the asymptotic approximation for different number {\displaystyle ~N~} of terms in the truncated sum
Unfortunately, the convergence of the series above is slow for arguments of larger modulus. For example, more than 40 terms are required to get an answer correct to three significant figures for {\displaystyle E_{1}(10)}.[7] However, for positive values of x, there is a divergent series approximation that can be obtained by integrating {\displaystyle xe^{x}E_{1}(x)} by parts:[8]
The relative error of the approximation above is plotted on the figure to the right for various values of {\displaystyle N}, the number of terms in the truncated sum ({\displaystyle N=1} in red, {\displaystyle N=5} in pink).
Normalized exponential integral. The value plotted is {\displaystyle {\frac {\operatorname {Ei} (x)}{(\exp x)/x}}.} The values of {\displaystyle x} are written above the corresponding point. The horizontal spacing is according to {\displaystyle \arctan x.} The graph is extended "beyond infinity" a little on both the right and the left to show how the normalized function behaves when {\displaystyle 1/x} is small. (The horizontal spacing for these points corresponds to angles whose tangent is {\displaystyle x.})
Using integration by parts, we can obtain an explicit formula[9]{\displaystyle \operatorname {Ei} (z)={\frac {e^{z}}{z}}\left(\sum _{k=0}^{n}{\frac {k!}{z^{k}}}+e_{n}(z)\right),\quad e_{n}(z)\equiv (n+1)!\ ze^{-z}\int _{-\infty }^{z}{\frac {e^{t}}{t^{n+2}}},円dt} For any fixed {\displaystyle z}, the absolute value of the error term {\displaystyle |e_{n}(z)|} decreases, then increases. The minimum occurs at {\displaystyle n\sim |z|}, at which point {\displaystyle \vert e_{n}(z)\vert \leq {\sqrt {\frac {2\pi }{\vert z\vert }}}e^{-\vert z\vert }}. This bound is said to be "asymptotics beyond all orders".
Bracketing of {\displaystyle E_{1}} by elementary functions
From the two series suggested in previous subsections, it follows that {\displaystyle E_{1}} behaves like a negative exponential for large values of the argument and like a logarithm for small values. For positive real values of the argument, {\displaystyle E_{1}} can be bracketed by elementary functions as follows:[10]
The left-hand side of this inequality is shown in the graph to the left in blue; the central part {\displaystyle E_{1}(x)} is shown in black and the right-hand side is shown in red.
Both {\displaystyle \operatorname {Ei} } and {\displaystyle E_{1}} can be written more simply using the entire function{\displaystyle \operatorname {Ein} }[11] defined as
is usually solved by the confluent hypergeometric functions{\displaystyle M(a,b,z)} and {\displaystyle U(a,b,z).} But when {\displaystyle a=0} and {\displaystyle b=1,} that is,
with the derivative evaluated at {\displaystyle a=0.} Another connexion with the confluent hypergeometric functions is that E1 is an exponential times the function U(1,1,z):
The series expansion of the exponential integral immediately gives rise to an expression in terms of the generalized hypergeometric function {\displaystyle {}_{2}F_{2}}:
There have been a number of approximations for the exponential integral function. These include:
The Swamee and Ohija approximation[17]{\displaystyle E_{1}(x)=\left(A^{-7.7}+B\right)^{-0.13},} where {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}A&=\ln \left[\left({\frac {0.56146}{x}}+0.65\right)(1+x)\right]\\B&=x^{4}e^{7.7x}(2+x)^{3.7}\end{aligned}}}
The Allen and Hastings approximation [17][18]{\displaystyle E_{1}(x)={\begin{cases}-\ln x+{\textbf {a}}^{T}{\textbf {x}}_{5},&x\leq 1\\{\frac {e^{-x}}{x}}{\frac {{\textbf {b}}^{T}{\textbf {x}}_{3}}{{\textbf {c}}^{T}{\textbf {x}}_{3}}},&x\geq 1\end{cases}}} where {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\textbf {a}}&\triangleq [-0.57722,0.99999,-0.24991,0.05519,-0.00976,0.00108]^{T}\\{\textbf {b}}&\triangleq [0.26777,8.63476,18.05902,8.57333]^{T}\\{\textbf {c}}&\triangleq [3.95850,21.09965,25.63296,9.57332]^{T}\\{\textbf {x}}_{k}&\triangleq [x^{0},x^{1},\dots ,x^{k}]^{T}\end{aligned}}}
The continued fraction expansion [18]{\displaystyle E_{1}(x)={\cfrac {e^{-x}}{x+{\cfrac {1}{1+{\cfrac {1}{x+{\cfrac {2}{1+{\cfrac {2}{x+{\cfrac {3}{\ddots }}}}}}}}}}}}.}
The approximation of Barry et al.[19]{\displaystyle E_{1}(x)={\frac {e^{-x}}{G+(1-G)e^{-{\frac {x}{1-G}}}}}\ln \left[1+{\frac {G}{x}}-{\frac {1-G}{(h+bx)^{2}}}\right],} where: {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}h&={\frac {1}{1+x{\sqrt {x}}}}+{\frac {h_{\infty }q}{1+q}}\\q&={\frac {20}{47}}x^{\sqrt {\frac {31}{26}}}\\h_{\infty }&={\frac {(1-G)(G^{2}-6G+12)}{3G(2-G)^{2}b}}\\b&={\sqrt {\frac {2(1-G)}{G(2-G)}}}\\G&=e^{-\gamma }\end{aligned}}} with {\displaystyle \gamma } being the Euler–Mascheroni constant.
Busbridge, Ida W. (1950). "On the integro-exponential function and the evaluation of some integrals involving it". Quart. J. Math. (Oxford). 1 (1): 176–184. Bibcode:1950QJMat...1..176B. doi:10.1093/qmath/1.1.176.
Stankiewicz, A. (1968). "Tables of the integro-exponential functions". Acta Astronomica. 18: 289. Bibcode:1968AcA....18..289S.
Press, WH; Teukolsky, SA; Vetterling, WT; Flannery, BP (2007), "Section 6.3. Exponential Integrals", Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing (3rd ed.), New York: Cambridge University Press, ISBN978-0-521-88068-8, archived from the original on 2011年08月11日, retrieved 2011年08月09日