\Header{Special}{Special Functions of Mathematics}
\alias{beta}{Special}
\alias{choose}{Special}
\alias{digamma}{Special}
\alias{gamma}{Special}
\alias{lbeta}{Special}
\alias{lchoose}{Special}
\alias{lgamma}{Special}
\alias{pentagamma}{Special}
\alias{tetragamma}{Special}
\alias{trigamma}{Special}
\keyword{math}{Special}
\begin{Description}\relax
The functions \code{beta} and \code{lbeta} return the beta function
and the natural logarithm of the beta function,
\deqn{B(a,b) = \frac{\Gamma(a)\Gamma(b)}{\Gamma(a+b)}.}{B(a,b) = (Gamma(a)Gamma(b))/(Gamma(a+b)).}

The functions \code{gamma} and \code{lgamma} return the gamma function
\eqn{\Gamma(x)}{}
and the natural logarithm of the absolute value of the gamma function.

The functions \code{digamma}, \code{trigamma}, \code{tetragamma} and
\code{pentagamma} return the first, second, third and fourth
derivatives of the logarithm of the gamma function.
\deqn{\code{digamma(x)} = \psi(x) = \frac{d}{dx}\ln\Gamma(x) =
\frac{\Gamma'(x)}{\Gamma(x)}}{\code{digamma(x)} = psi(x) = d/dx {ln Gamma(x)} = Gamma'(x) / Gamma(x)}

The functions \code{choose} and \code{lchoose} return binomial
coefficients and their logarithms.\end{Description}
\begin{Usage}
\begin{verbatim}
beta(a, b)
lbeta(a, b)
gamma(x)
lgamma(x)
digamma(x)
trigamma(x)
tetragamma(x)
pentagamma(x)
choose(n,k)
lchoose(n,k)
\end{verbatim}
\end{Usage}
\begin{References}\relax
Abramowitz, M. and Stegun, I. A. (1972)
\emph{Handbook of Mathematical Functions.} New York: Dover.
Chapter 6: Gamma and Related Functions.\end{References}
\begin{SeeAlso}\relax
\code{\Link{Arithmetic}} for simple, \code{\Link{sqrt}} for
miscellaneous mathematical functions and \code{\Link{Bessel}} for the
real Bessel functions.\end{SeeAlso}
\begin{Examples}
\begin{ExampleCode}
choose(5, 2)
for (n in 0:10) print(choose(n, k = 0:n))

curve(gamma(x),-3,4, n=1001, ylim=c(-10,100),
      col="red", lwd=2, main="gamma(x)")
abline(h=0,v=0, lty=3, col="midnightblue")

x <- seq(.1, 4, length = 201); dx <- diff(x)[1]
par(mfrow = c(2, 3))
for (ch in c("", "l","di","tri","tetra","penta")) {
  is.deriv <- nchar(ch) >= 2
  if (is.deriv) dy <- diff(y) / dx
  nm <- paste(ch, "gamma", sep = "")
  y <- get(nm)(x)
  plot(x, y, type = "l", main = nm, col = "red")
  abline(h = 0, col = "lightgray")
  if (is.deriv) lines(x[-1], dy, col = "blue", lty = 2)
}
par(mfrow = c(2, 2))
\end{ExampleCode}
\end{Examples}

