in computer science in the analysis of algorithms, considering the performance of algorithms when
applied to very large input datasets.
the behavior of physical systems when they are very large, an example being Statistical mechanics.
in accident analysis when identifying the causation of crash through count modeling with large
number of crash counts in a given time and space.
The simplest example, when considering a function f(n), is when there is a need to describe its properties as
n becomes very large. Thus, if f(n) = n2+3n, the term 3n becomes insignificant compared to n2, when n is
very large. The function f(n) is said to be "asymptotically equivalent to n2 as n ", and this is written
symbolically as f(n) ~ n2.
Contents
1 Definition
2 Asymptotic expansion
5 See also
6 References
Definition
Formally, given functions f and g of a natural number variable n, one defines a binary relation
This relation is an equivalence relation on the set of functions of n. The equivalence class of f informally
consists of all functions g which are approximately equal to f in a relative sense, in the limit.
Asymptotic expansion
An asymptotic expansion of a function f(x) is in practice an expression of that function in terms of a series,
the partial sums of which do not necessarily converge, but such that taking any initial partial sum provides
an asymptotic formula for f. The idea is that successive terms provide an increasingly accurate description of
the order of growth of f. An example is Stirling's approximation.
In symbols, it means we have
but also
and
for each fixed k, while some limit is taken, usually with the requirement that gk+1 = o(gk), cf little o notation,
which means the (gk) form an asymptotic scale.
The requirement that the successive sums improve the approximation may then be expressed as
In case the asymptotic expansion does not converge, for any particular value of the argument there will be a
particular partial sum which provides the best approximation and adding additional terms will decrease the
accuracy. However, this optimal partial sum will usually have more terms as the argument approaches the
limit value.
Asymptotic expansions typically arise in the approximation of certain integrals (Laplace's method, saddlepoint method, method of steepest descent) or in the approximation of probability distributions (Edgeworth
series). The famous Feynman graphs in quantum field theory are another example of asymptotic expansions
which often do not converge.
The method of dominant balance is used to determine the asymptotic behavior of solutions to an ODE
without fully solving it. The process is iterative, in that the result obtained by performing the method once
can be used as input when the method is repeated, to obtain as many terms in the asymptotic expansion as
desired.[2]
The process goes as follows:
2. Make an informed guess as to which terms in the ODE might be negligible in the limit of interest.
4. Check that the solution is consistent with step 2. If this is the case, then one has the controlling
factor of the asymptotic behavior; otherwise, one needs try dropping different terms in step 2,
instead.
5. Repeat the process to higher orders, relying on the above result as the leading term in the solution.
This differential equation cannot be solved exactly. However, it may be useful to know how the solutions
behave for large x. Start by assuming
as x ; we do this with the benefit of hindsight, to make
things quicker. Since we mostly care about the behavior of y in the large x limit, we change variables to y =
exp(S(x)), and re-express the ODE in terms of S(x),
,
or
where we have used the product rule and chain rule to evaluate the derivatives of y.
Now suppose first that a solution to this ODE satisfies
as x , so that
If satisfies the above asymptotic conditions, then the above assumption is consistent. The terms we
dropped will indeed have been negligible with respect to the ones we kept.
is not a solution to the ODE for S, but it represents the dominant asymptotic behaviour, which is what we
are interested in. Check that this choice for is consistent,
so to get at least the first term of this series we have to take a further step to see if there is a power of x out
the front.
We proceed by introducing a new subleading dependent variable,
and then seek asymptotic solutions for C(x). Substituting into the above ODE for S(x) we find
Repeating the same process as before, we keep C' and (c-a)/x to find that
See also
Asymptote
Asymptotic theory
References
1.
S. Howison, Practical Applied Mathematics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005. ISBN 0521-60369-2
1
Bender, C.M.; Orszag, S.A. (1999). Advanced mathematical methods for scientists and
engineers. Springer. pp. 549568. ISBN 0-387-98931-5.
Boyd, John P. (March 1999). "The Devil's Invention: Asymptotic, Superasymptotic and
Hyperasymptotic Series". Acta Applicandae Mathematicae 56 (1): 198.
doi:10.1023/A:1006145903624. edit
Categories:
Asymptotic analysis
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