The Dilogarithm function of a real argument [S22]

  • Authors:
  • Edward S. Ginsberg;Dorothy Zaborowski

  • Affiliations:
  • Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston;Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

  • Venue:
  • Communications of the ACM
  • Year:
  • 1975

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Abstract

The dilogarithm function [1-3], defined by Li2(x) = - ∫x0 (1/z) ln (1 - z) dz, (1) occurs in several different applications in physics and engineering, ranging from quantum electrodynamics, to network analysis, to the thermodynamics of ideal ferromagnets, to the structure of polymers. A new function subroutine is developed which computes the dilogarithm function of a real argument to an accuracy of a few parts in 1015. This program was designed to be included in the usual package of library subprograms relied upon by most users. It employs an alternative computational approach to a previously published algorithm [4].