NAG Library Function Document

nag_airy_bi (s17ahc)

 Contents

    1  Purpose
    7  Accuracy

1
Purpose

nag_airy_bi (s17ahc) returns a value of the Airy function, Bix.

2
Specification

#include <nag.h>
#include <nags.h>
double  nag_airy_bi (double x, NagError *fail)

3
Description

nag_airy_bi (s17ahc) evaluates an approximation to the Airy function Bix. It is based on a number of Chebyshev expansions.
For x<-5,
Bix=atcosz+btsinz-x1/4,  
where z= π4+ 23-x3 and at and bt are expansions in the variable t=-2 5x 3-1.
For -5x0,
Bix=3ft+xgt,  
where f and g are expansions in t=-2 x5 3-1.
For 0<x<4.5,
Bix=e11x/8yt,  
where y is an expansion in t=4x/9-1.
For 4.5x<9,
Bix=e5x/2vt,  
where v is an expansion in t=4x/9-3.
For x9,
Bix=ezutx1/4,  
where z= 23x3 and u is an expansion in t=2 18z-1.
For x<machine precision, the result is set directly to Bi0. This both saves time and avoids possible intermediate underflows.
For large negative arguments, it becomes impossible to calculate the phase of the oscillating function with any accuracy so the function must fail. This occurs if x<- 32ε 2/3, where ε is the machine precision.
For large positive arguments, there is a danger of causing overflow since Bi grows in an essentially exponential manner, so the function must fail.

4
References

Abramowitz M and Stegun I A (1972) Handbook of Mathematical Functions (3rd Edition) Dover Publications

5
Arguments

1:     x doubleInput
On entry: the argument x of the function.
2:     fail NagError *Input/Output
The NAG error argument (see Section 3.7 in How to Use the NAG Library and its Documentation).

6
Error Indicators and Warnings

NE_ALLOC_FAIL
Dynamic memory allocation failed.
See Section 2.3.1.2 in How to Use the NAG Library and its Documentation for further information.
NE_INTERNAL_ERROR
An internal error has occurred in this function. Check the function call and any array sizes. If the call is correct then please contact NAG for assistance.
See Section 2.7.6 in How to Use the NAG Library and its Documentation for further information.
NE_NO_LICENCE
Your licence key may have expired or may not have been installed correctly.
See Section 2.7.5 in How to Use the NAG Library and its Documentation for further information.
NE_REAL_ARG_GT
On entry, x=value.
Constraint: xvalue.
x is too large and positive. The function returns zero.
NE_REAL_ARG_LT
On entry, x=value.
Constraint: xvalue.
x is too large and negative. The function returns zero.

7
Accuracy

For negative arguments the function is oscillatory and hence absolute error is the appropriate measure. In the positive region the function is essentially exponential-like and here relative error is appropriate. The absolute error, E, and the relative error, ε, are related in principle to the relative error in the argument, δ, by
E x Bix δ,ε x Bix Bix δ.  
In practice, approximate equality is the best that can be expected. When δ, ε or E is of the order of the machine precision, the errors in the result will be somewhat larger.
For small x, errors are strongly damped and hence will be bounded essentially by the machine precision.
For moderate to large negative x, the error behaviour is clearly oscillatory but the amplitude of the error grows like amplitude Eδ x5/4π .
However the phase error will be growing roughly as 23x3 and hence all accuracy will be lost for large negative arguments. This is due to the impossibility of calculating sin and cos to any accuracy if 23x3> 1δ .
For large positive arguments, the relative error amplification is considerable:
εδx3.  
This means a loss of roughly two decimal places accuracy for arguments in the region of 20. However very large arguments are not possible due to the danger of causing overflow and errors are therefore limited in practice.

8
Parallelism and Performance

nag_airy_bi (s17ahc) is not threaded in any implementation.

9
Further Comments

None.

10
Example

This example reads values of the argument x from a file, evaluates the function at each value of x and prints the results.

10.1
Program Text

Program Text (s17ahce.c)

10.2
Program Data

Program Data (s17ahce.d)

10.3
Program Results

Program Results (s17ahce.r)

GnuplotProduced by GNUPLOT 4.6 patchlevel 3 0 5 10 15 −10 −8 −6 −4 −2 0 2 4 Bi(x) x Example Program Returns a Value of the Airy Function Bi(x) gnuplot_plot_1
© The Numerical Algorithms Group Ltd, Oxford, UK. 2017