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I recently posted this, post containing a series of questions concerning the integration of ${x^{x^{x^x}}}$. In order to do so, I wrote ${x^{x^{x^x}}}$ as the following infinite summation: $$1 + \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\sum_{k=0}^{n}\bigg(\frac{x^{n+1} \log^{n+1+k}(x)C_{kn}}{\Gamma(n+2)}\bigg)$$ I got to this summation using a "generalized Puiseux series". I mention in the post that I am unsure of how to calculate such a series, but it seemed like more of a side-note and I decided that the question deserved its own post. I am trying to determine the mysteries coefficents in the series (written as $C_{kn}$), but I am unsure how to derive them by calculating the generalized Puiseux series by hand. I have looked up literature on standard Puiseux series, and I can somewhat follow it... however, I can find nearly nothing on generalized Puiseux series, especially literature I am capable of following. While $x^x$ can be written as a standard Puiseux series, $x^{x^x}$ also requires the generalized form, so understanding the derivation of that series might work as well if it is simpler.$\\$

In short, how do we calculate a generalized Puiseux series, specifically for $x^{x^x}$ or for ${x^{x^{x^x}}}$?

3 Answers3

4

The way to do this, is to calculate the coefficients of the iterates ${^2}(e^x)$, ${^3}(e^x)$, ${^4}(e^x)$, etc. first. The coefficients of the corresponding Piseaux for ${^n}z$ are going to be the same.

The problem then becomes:


Let a series $s$ with coefficients $a_n$ be given, as $s=\sum\limits_{n=0}^\infty a_n$. Determine the coefficients $b_n$ of the series expansion for the series $s_1=\exp(s\cdot x)$, where $s_1=\sum\limits_{n=0}^\infty b_n$.


There were two solutions given, one by Leroy Quet, as:

If $B(x)=\exp(A(x))$ then $B'(x)=B(x)\cdot A'(x)$, which provides a recursive relation for the solution and one by Robert Israel, as:

$$b_n=\sum\left(\prod\frac{a_{k-1}^{s_k}}{s_k!}\right)$$

where the sum is over all sequences $s=[s_1,s_2,s_3,...]$ of nonnegative integers, with:

$$n=\sum\limits_{k=1}^\infty k\cdot s_k$$

and the product is over those $k$ for which $s_k>0$ (a finite set).

(Quoting RI:) For example, the partitions of 4 correspond to $s=[4,0...]$, $[2,1,0...]$, $[0,2,0...]$, $[1,0,1,0...]$ and $[0,0,0,1,0...]$, so:

$$b_4 = \frac{a_0^4}{4!} + \frac{a_0^2 a_1}{2!1!} + \frac{a_1^2}{2!} + a_0\cdot a_2 + a_3$$

Robert then gives the following Maple code for the coefficients:

b:=(n::nonnegint)->add( mul(a[q[1]-1]^q[2]/q[2]!,
q = map(j -> [j, numboccur(j,P)], convert(P,set))),
P = combinat[partition](n));

Note OP: The method I used was Leroy Quet's, to whom I give the credits on my PhD thesis.

Note GH: If you use either method, you will end up with the coefficients of your "Pascal" Matrices.


Addendum #1:

In view of your comment, a clarification: The notation for the problem was probably a bit unfortunate. What you have, to start with, are the coefficients $a_n$ of:

$${^1}(e^x)=s=\sum\limits_{n=0}^\infty a_n\cdot x^n=\sum\limits_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}$$.

The process is now inductive: You are looking for the $b_n$ such that:

$${^2}(e^x)=s=\sum\limits_{n=0}^\infty b_n\cdot x^n$$.

These $b_n$ can be gotten using either of the two solutions above. I.e. either using:

$$B(x)=\exp(A(x))\Rightarrow B'(x)=B(x)\cdot A'(x)$$

by writing down what you see and adjusting the indexes, or using Robert Israel's argument for the $b_n$.

Then you continue. You have the new $a_n$ (now as coefficients of ${^2}(e^x)$) and you are looking for new $b_n$ such that:

$${^3}(e^x)=s=\sum\limits_{n=0}^\infty b_n\cdot x^n$$.

and you continue in a similar spirit, using either method.


Addendum #2:


Here is some Maple code using R.I.'s routine, illustrating the above iteration:

restart;
N:=5;
a := Array(0 .. N, [seq(1/factorial(n), n = 0 .. N)]);# start with exp()
b := Array(0 .. N);#store coefficients of new iterate.
c := proc (n::nonnegint) options operator, arrow;
add(mul(a[q[1]-1]^q[2]/factorial(q[2]), q = map(proc (j) options operator,
arrow; [j, numboccur(j, P)] end proc, convert(P, set))),
P = combinat[partition](n)) end proc;#R.I.'s routine

Calculate coefficients of ${^2}(e^x)$:

for n from 0 to N do b[n] := c(n) end do;

Print coefficients of ${^2}(e^x)$:

for n from 0 to N do print(b[n]) end do

$$1,1,\frac{3}{2},\frac{5}{3},\frac{41}{24},\frac{49}{30}$$

Load new coefficients into array a again:

for n from 0 to N do a[n] := b[n] end do

Calculate coefficients of ${^3}(e^x)$:

for n from 0 to N do b[n] := c(n) end do

Print coefficients of ${^3}(e^x)$:

for n from 0 to N do print(b[n]) end do

$$1,1,\frac{3}{2},\frac{8}{3},\frac{101}{24},\frac{63}{10}$$

etc.

In other words:

$$\begin{align} {^1}(e^x)&=1+x+\frac{x^2}{2!}+\frac{x^3}{3!}+\cdots\\ {^2}(e^x)&=1+x+\frac{3}{2}\cdot x^2+\frac{5}{3}\cdot x^3+\frac{41}{24}\cdot x^4+\cdots\\ {^3}(e^x)&=1+x+\frac{3}{2}\cdot x^2+\frac{8}{3}\cdot x^3+\frac{101}{24}\cdot x^4+\cdots\\ \ldots \end{align}$$

Now, once you have the iterates of $\exp$, the corresponding Puiseux series can be gotten through the substitution $x\to \ln(z)$ by choosing the principal branch of $\ln$:

$$\begin{align} {^1}z&=1+\ln(z)+\frac{1}{2!}\cdot \ln(z)^2+\frac{1}{3!}\cdot \ln(z)^3+\frac{1}{4!}\cdot \ln(z)^4+\cdots\\ {^2}z&=1+\ln(z)+\frac{3}{2}\cdot \ln(z)^2+\frac{5}{3}\cdot \ln(z)^3+\frac{41}{24}\cdot \ln(z)^4+\cdots\\ {^3}z&=1+\ln(z)+\frac{3}{2}\cdot \ln(z)^2+\frac{8}{3}\cdot \ln(z)^3+\frac{101}{24}\cdot \ln(z)^4+\cdots\\ \ldots \end{align}$$

Edit#1 (22/5/2021)

By the way, I don't know why Andrew Robbins (or Wikipedia ?) has called these "Piseaux" series. These are plain (compositions of) logarithmic series, nothing less nothing more.

If you re-expand all the $\ln(z)$ terms in terms of $z$ within these, you get (examples of) Vassili Nestoridis' Universal Taylor Series. See V. Nestorides et al. on "Universal Taylor Series", etc.

  • I'll be honest here, I don't understand much of what is happening in this post (I've only taken Calc 1 in school... everything else mathematical I have studied far ahead on my own). I get the idea of what you are doing here, but I am getting greatly confused by some of the notation. I believe you initially define a series $s$ that will be composed entirely out of coefficients $a_n$. How you derive the next line concerning $b_n$ I cannot tell. – Brevan Ellefsen Sep 23 '15 at 06:43
  • I greatly appreciate the help, and this seems like a good solution, but I cannot understand what you are doing. I don't mean to bother you with these likely elementary questions, but an explanation would be greatly appreciated! – Brevan Ellefsen Sep 23 '15 at 06:43
  • See the addendum for a brief explanation. –  Sep 23 '15 at 08:43
  • 2
    See second addendum for actual calculation of coefficients. –  Sep 23 '15 at 11:17
  • Hmm, the last addendum gives a series in terms of $\ln(z)$. W/A gives its Puisieux-series in terms of "$z \ln(z)$" (or "$ u e^u $" ) plus a set of polynomials in "$\ln(z)$" only - and also the same pattern for all $m$ in $ ^m z$. That makes Brevan's question a bit more difficult – Gottfried Helms Sep 23 '15 at 16:00
  • So does Maple, if you decide to expand in powers of $z\ln(z)$ from the second iteration on. I.e., keep ${^1}z=z$ and write: ${^2}z=\exp(z\ln(z))$. This will give you the "generalized Puisieux" series the OP asks about. These series will be equivalent to the ones above, but before looking for any coefficients for these, we'd have to agree on what we mean exactly by "coefficients" in this case, because these series will be series in both $z$ and $\ln(z)$. –  Sep 23 '15 at 17:03
  • This is definitely a solid step forward in this question. I appreciate the clarification, I get what you are saying now. I don't mind solving in terms of the equations you derive in Addendum 2, although my goal is to find some analytical expression for the integration of $^nx$ (hopefully through summations and special functions), and the process outlined does not generate coefficients in this manner... Hopefully some pattern matching on these series will be easier though. Thank you very much! – Brevan Ellefsen Sep 23 '15 at 21:25
  • Ah! Ok, I see. Good luck with that... –  Sep 23 '15 at 22:49
2

Note: this is not yet an answer, but only an ansatz to find a promising key for the pattern-detection

To find patterns I would seriously try to simplify formulae, such that constants move out of loops/sums/products and repeatedly occuring functions with same parameter get a shorter symbol. So for instance $$ \; ^4 x= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(x \log(x))^n}{n!} \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} \bigg( \log(x)^k C_{n-1,k}\bigg) $$ where, however, I have moved the constant $1$ into the loop, but only to standardize the bounds for the sums to usual values (here the lower bound $0$).
Moreover I' written $ u $ for $ \log(x) $ and for scalars stay with small letters ($c$) then $$ \; ^4 x= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \bigg( \frac{(u \cdot e^u )^n}{n!} \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} c_{n-1,k}\cdot u^k \bigg) $$


To detect patterns I make it more general, so I would finally write: $$ \; ^m x= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(u \cdot e^u )^n}{n!} P_m(u,n-1) $$ $ \qquad \qquad $ where the polynomials $$ P_m(u,n) = \sum_{k=0}^n c_{m:n,k} \cdot u^k $$ $ \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad $ have the coefficients $c_{m:n,k}$from the lower triangular matrices $C_m$.

Empirically (by the W/A-solutions) we must also insert a correction: for the odd $m$ the rhs must have one additional factor $x$: $$ \; ^m x= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(u \cdot e^u )^n}{n!} P_m(u,n) \qquad \text{ for $m$ even } \\ \; ^m x= x \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(u \cdot e^u )^n}{n!} P_m(u,n) \qquad \text{ for $m$ odd } \tag 1 $$

I don't really see why the attempt is at W/A, to extract powers of the product $u \cdot e^u$ as standard entities; in the view that we deal here in the framework of iteration one might rather consider to use for instance $u$, $ue^u$ , $u e^{ue^u}$, ... instead for the various m'th $ \; ^m x$ and have then likely smoother matrices $C_m$.

But well, Wolfram-alpha gives us that structure of solutions, and what I've got so far are the following matrices $C_m$ : $$ \begin{array}{ll} \begin{matrix} \; ^2x : & C_2=& \small \begin{bmatrix} 1 & . & . & . & . & . \\ 1 & 0 & . & . & . & . \\ 1 & 0 & 0 & . & . & . \\ 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & . & . \\ 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & . \\ 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \end{matrix} & \begin{matrix} \; ^3x : & C_3=& \small \begin{bmatrix} 1 & . & . & . & . & . \\ 0 & 1 & . & . & . & . \\ 0 & 1 & 1 & . & . & . \\ 0 & 1 & 3 & 1 & . & . \\ 0 & 1 & 7 & 6 & 1 & . \\ 0 & 1 & 15 & 25 & 10 & 1 \end{bmatrix} \end{matrix} \\ \begin{matrix} \; ^4x : & C_4=& \small \begin{bmatrix} 1 & . & . & . & . \\ 1 & 0 & . & . & . \\ 1 & 2 & 0 & . & . \\ 1 & 9 & 3 & 0 & . \\ 1 & 28 & 36 & 4 & 0 \\ 1 & 75 & 245 & 110 & 5 \end{bmatrix} \end{matrix} & \begin{matrix} \; ^5x : & C_5=& \small \begin{bmatrix} 1 & . & . & . & . & . \\ 0 & 1 & . & . & . & . \\ 0 & 1 & 3 & . & . & . \\ 0 & 1 & 12 & 10 & . & . \\ 0 & 1 & 35 & 90 & 41 & . \\ 0 & 1 & 90 & 520 & 660 & 196 \end{bmatrix} \end{matrix} \\ \begin{matrix} \; ^6x : & C_6=& \small \begin{bmatrix} 1 & . & . & . & . & . \\ 1 & 0 & . & . & . & . \\ 1 & 2 & 0 & . & . & . \\ 1 & 9 & 9 & 0 & . & . \\ 1 & 28 & 96 & 40 & 0 & . \\ 1 & 75 & 625 & 830 & 205 & 0 \\ 1 & 186 & 3240 & 9600 & 7200 & 1176 \end{bmatrix} \end{matrix} & \\ \begin{matrix} \; ^8x : & C_8= & \small \begin{bmatrix} 1 &. &. &. &. &. &. \\ 1 &0 &. &. &. &. &. \\ 1 &2 &0 &. &. &. &. \\ 1 &9 &9 &0 &. &. & \\ 1 &28 &96 &64 &0 &. &. \\ 1 &75 &625 &1250 &505 &0 &. \\ 1 &186 &3240 &14040 &16200 &4536 &0 \\ 1 &441 &14749 &120050 &284900 &219387 &46249 \end{bmatrix} \end{matrix} \end{array}$$


[update] I've just found a partial pattern. For $C_8$ I find $$ \begin{matrix} \; ^8x : & C_8= & \small \begin{bmatrix} \begin{array} {r} 1 & & & & & & \\ 1 & 0 & & & & & \\ 1 & 2\cdot1 & 0 & & & & \\ 1 & 3\cdot3 & 3^2\cdot1 & 0 & & & \\ 1 & 4\cdot7 & 4^2\cdot6 & 4^3\cdot1 & 0 & & \\ 1 & 5\cdot15 & 5^2\cdot25 & 5^3\cdot10 & 5^4\cdot1 -5! & 0 & \\ 1 & 6\cdot31 & 6^2\cdot90 & 6^3\cdot65 & 6^4\cdot15 -3240 & 4536 & 0\\ 1 & 7\cdot63 & 7^2\cdot301 & 7^3\cdot350 & 7^4\cdot140 -51240 & 219387 & 46249\\ \end{array} \end{bmatrix} \end{matrix} $$ What we see is, that the leading columns are perfect multiples of the Stirling numbers 2nd kind of the same column-index; and in the trailing columns we have defects. From the examples for $ ^2x, ^4x, ^6x, ^8x$ we see that with each increasing $m$ one more column becomes "correct", with that simple pattern. And it is easy to hypothesize the form of the matrix for $m \to \infty$ .
I've however not yet found a pattern for the defects.
  • This is a very interesting post... thank you for sharing! You bring up some good points, and I will definitely further investigate using the methods you mention. However, for the first equation you get $^4 x= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}
    \frac{(x \log(x))^n}{n!} \sum_{k=0}^{n} \bigg( \log(x)^k C_{kn}\bigg)$. I calculated that it is $\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \bigg[\frac{x^n \log^n(x)}{n!}\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\bigg(C_{kn}\log^k(x)\bigg)\bigg]$ in my other post on this subject... Am I missing something? Why are you replacing the upper limit of $n-1$ by $n$?
    – Brevan Ellefsen Sep 22 '15 at 22:30
  • I should note that I accidentally stumbled upon your paper when looking through coefficient tables for iterates of $^nexp(x)$ on the OEIS. The paper has been very useful for referencing when I get similar results, in order to compare methodologies for reaching the same conclusions in hopes that using different methods will enlighten me on my problems concerning $^nx$. – Brevan Ellefsen Sep 23 '15 at 06:46
  • Hmm, modulo some error... I'll see what I might have been done wrong. I replaced n by n+1 and pulled the $1+$ into the loop which can be understood to have index zero (exponent zero) - I'll see later what was going on – Gottfried Helms Sep 23 '15 at 06:51
  • Gottfried, sorry to interject, I've seen these coefficients as a diagonal on some or other (I can't recall) method of iterates, where you called your matrices Pascal. I am pretty sure they match. I made a silent comment on my original answer, but you probably didn't see it. –  Sep 23 '15 at 08:49
  • @Yiannis: hey, thank you for that reminder. I was also redirected to my treatize on "pascalmatrix tetrated" (where the pascalmatrix is just the matrix of binomialcoefficients) by the remark of Brevan. Well I think that the computation scheme is very similar, but while I'm implicitely work with $ ^m(ue^u)$ as you have also pointed to in your answer, the tables here should have slightly differences to that; in the OP's /W-A's notation for the puisieux-series for each $m$ the same powers of $ue^u$ are extracted and not the iterates. – Gottfried Helms Sep 23 '15 at 09:03
  • @Brevan: You're correct, I missed the adaption of $n$ to $n-1$ in the inner loop (and also the correction of the index at the $c$-coefficients is required. I insert that into my post. – Gottfried Helms Sep 23 '15 at 09:54
  • Good progress on that update! It is unfortunate that these defects appear... I'll have to investigate the matrices a bit further. I wonder what happens to the number of defects of the matrices of $^nx$ as $n\to0$ and $n\to\infty$... perhaps patterns in that could help – Brevan Ellefsen Sep 23 '15 at 21:38
  • @Brevan - with increasing $m$ the first leading $m$ columns are correct (= that columns of the $C_\infty$ , which are now obvious); I played a bit with that "defects" but no clear pattern so far... However it is interesting that the same structure of "removing defects" occur when you look at the coefficients of the Taylorseries (in $x$ only) of $x+1, (x+1)^{(x+1)}, \cdots, ^m(x+1), \cdots, ^\infty (x+1)$. – Gottfried Helms Sep 24 '15 at 01:40
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This answer is just to reproduce my derivation for my modified notation in my other answer.

The original equation: $$1 + \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\sum_{k=0}^{n}\bigg(\frac{x^{n+1} \log^{n+1+k}(x)C_{kn}}{\Gamma(n+2)}\bigg)$$

My notational modification: (indeed I had an error with the n at the inner loop): $$ \displaystyle{ \begin{array} {lll} ^4 x &=& \displaystyle 1 + \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{x^{n+1} \log^{n+1}(x)}{\Gamma(n+2)} \sum_{k=0}^{n}\bigg( \log^k(x)c_{n,k}\bigg) \\ &=& \displaystyle 1 + \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \left( \frac{x^{n+1} u^{n+1}}{(n+1)!} \sum_{k=0}^{n} u^kc_{n,k} \right)\\ &=& \displaystyle 1 + \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \left( \frac{(ux)^n }{n!} \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} u^k c_{n-1,k} \right)\\ \end{array}} $$ Then I inserted the $1$ as the element at $n=0$, but in the light of the $n-1$ in the inner loop it is possibly better to leave the equation in this form.