Robbins bounds for Stirling's formula
ID: robbins-bounds-for-stirling-s-formula
For every positive integer , Herbert Robbins's bounds giveEquivalently, the remainder in satisfies . This both proves that underestimates and squeezes to one, establishing Stirling's formula. Robbins published the bounds in “A Remark on Stirling's Formula” in 1955. [ref]
https://dornsife.usc.edu/sergey-lototsky/wp-content/uploads/sites/211/2024/02/Stirling-Robbins.pdf. Herbert Robbins, American Mathematical Monthly 62 (1955), pp. 26–29, equations (1)–(2)
For , the relative error of lies strictly between and , approximately and . A bound specifies the accuracy of an approximation before using it in another calculation.
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