First consider unit requirements, . The Erlang loss formula for a resource with capacity and offered traffic is
The Erlang fixed point approximation assumes that resources block independently and that the traffic retained after screening at other resources can be treated as a Poisson process. If is the approximate blocking probability and , the reduced-load approximation gives
The link whose load is being calculated is excluded from the screening product. Otherwise one would confuse its offered load with its carried load.
For existence, these equations define a continuous map from into itself. The Brouwer fixed-point theorem gives a fixed point. Assume ; a zero-capacity resource forces rejection of every call needing it and can be removed together with those call types.
For uniqueness, let have probabilities proportional to , , and write . Direct differentiation gives
These identities hold for , and . Also increases from zero to one and increases from zero to .
Put . Define by , and define . This is a continuous, strictly increasing function on , starting at zero and tending to . Multiplying each Erlang fixed point approximation load equation by transforms it into
These are exactly the zero-gradient conditions of
Each integral is a strictly convex function; the exponential terms are convex functions. Thus is a strictly convex function. It is also a coercive function, since , so it has a unique minimizer. At , its partial derivative is negative if some positive-traffic route uses , so that coordinate of the minimizer is positive. If no route uses , the unique minimizing coordinate is zero. The minimizer therefore satisfies the equations in every coordinate. Conversely any fixed point has , finite , and these zero-gradient equations, so must equal that unique minimizer. Hence the Erlang fixed point approximation exists and is unique for fixed routing.
For integer requirements, the common generalized Erlang fixed point approximation uses
Multiplication by gives the same equations for , so the existence and uniqueness argument also covers this generalized approximation. It remains an approximation, rather than the exact blocking law for a call requesting several units.