Approximating the Digamma function for small arguments

digamma-functionharmonic-numbersspecial functions

There are several ways to approximate the Digamma function $\psi(x)$ that become exact for $x\to\infty$.

The simplest approximation is
$$\lim_{x\to\infty}(\psi(x)-\mathrm{ln}(x))=0$$

There are other faster appromixations that involve more corrections terms (see this SE post or Digamma article in Wikipedia).

Are there approximations that become exact for $x\to1$ but deviate with growing $x$ ? The approximation shall become better for $x\to1$ for $x\ge1$ (i.e. approximations for $x<1$ are not of interest).

The aim is to approximate the Digamma function for large values $x\to\infty$ and for small values $x\ge1$. Simpler functions shall be used. Approximations that involve Zeta functions or infinite sums make the problem not simpler.

Best Answer

The Digamma function is analytic at $1$, with Taylor series

$$ \psi(z) = -\gamma - \sum_{n=1}^\infty \zeta(n+1) (1-z)^n $$

This converges for $|z-1|<1$.

EDIT: $\psi$ is analytic in $\mathbb C$ except for poles at the nonpositive integers. So $\psi(1/z)$ is analytic in the disk of radius $1$ around $1$, and its Taylor series around $1$ converges there. So if this Taylor series is $$\psi(1/z) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty c_n (z-1)^n$$, we can write $$ \psi(x) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty c_n \left(\frac{1}{x}-1\right)^n $$ and use partial sums of this as our approximations. For example, the sum up to $n=6$ is

$$-\gamma -\frac{\pi^{2} \left(\frac{1}{x}-1\right)}{6}+\left(\frac{\pi^{2}}{6}-\zeta \! \left(3\right)\right) \left(\frac{1}{x}-1\right)^{2}+\left(-\frac{\pi^{2}}{6}+2 \zeta \! \left(3\right)-\frac{\pi^{4}}{90}\right) \left(\frac{1}{x}-1\right)^{3}+\left(\frac{\pi^{2}}{6}-3 \zeta \! \left(3\right)+\frac{\pi^{4}}{30}-\zeta \! \left(5\right)\right) \left(\frac{1}{x}-1\right)^{4}+\left(-\frac{\pi^{2}}{6}+4 \zeta \! \left(3\right)-\frac{\pi^{4}}{15}+4 \zeta \! \left(5\right)-\frac{\pi^{6}}{945}\right) \left(\frac{1}{x}-1\right)^{5}+\left(\frac{\pi^{2}}{6}-5 \zeta \! \left(3\right)+\frac{\pi^{4}}{9}-10 \zeta \! \left(5\right)+\frac{\pi^{6}}{189}-\zeta \! \left(7\right)\right) \left(\frac{1}{x}-1\right)^{6} $$ where the error is about $0.0020$ at $x=2$ and $0.0206$ at $x=3$.