The Lambert W function

The Lambert $W$ function solves $W(z)e^{W(z)} = z$. It has infinitely many branches $W_k$, $k \in \mathbb{Z}$; the principal branch $W_0$ is real on $[-1/e, \infty)$ and $W_{-1}$ is real on $[-1/e, 0)$. The standard branch cuts are those of Corless et al. [CGHJK1996]: $W_0$ has the cut $(-\infty, -1/e]$, the other branches have the cut $(-\infty, 0]$, and $W_{-1}$ has in addition a cut along the real segment $(-1/e, 0)$, where it meets $W_1$. acb_lambertw also offers two nonstandard conventions through its flags: ACB_LAMBERTW_LEFT rotates the cut on $(-\infty, 0)$ to $(0, +\infty)$, and ACB_LAMBERTW_MIDDLE joins $W_{-1}$ in the upper half-plane and $W_1$ in the lower half-plane through $(-1/e, 0)$, which extends the real function $W_{-1}(x)$ analytically. FLINT implements the function in arb (arb_lambertw, branches 0 and $-1$ for real arguments) and acb (acb_lambertw, any branch $k$ given as an fmpz), following Johansson [Joh2017b]. Unlike the functions of the rest of this group, $W$ is not given by a convenient series; it is computed by solving the equation.

Starting values#

• Large $|z|$ or $k \ne 0$. The asymptotic expansion

  $$W_k(z) \sim L_1 - L_2 + \frac{L_2}{L_1} + \frac{L_2(L_2 - 2)}{2L_1^2} + \cdots, \qquad L_1 = \log z + 2\pi i k, \quad L_2 = \log L_1,$$

  gives a starting value (in double precision when the exponents fit). acb_lambertw_asymp evaluates the full bivariate series in $1/L_1$ and $L_2/L_1$ with $L$ and $M$ terms and a rigorous error bound, which is finite when $|\log z|$ is large; for huge $|z|$ or $|k|$ this gives the final result directly.

• Near the branch point $z = -1/e$. With $t = 2(ez + 1)$, $W(z) = -1 + \sqrt{t} - t/3 + \frac{11}{72}t^{3/2} - \cdots$; the series is evaluated with a bound on its coefficients, and when $z$ is extremely close to $-1/e$ it gives the result directly. The quantity $ez + 1$ is computed once at high precision, since it suffers from cancellation exactly where it matters.
• Moderate $z$. Double-precision approximations: d_lambertw for the principal branch, and rational approximations followed by a Halley step (d_lambertw_branch1) for $W_{-1}$ on $(-1/e, 0)$.
• Small $|z|$ on the principal branch. The Taylor series $W_0(z) = z - z^2 + \frac32 z^3 - \cdots$, whose coefficients are bounded by $4^k/16$ for $k \ge 2$.

Halley iteration#

From an approximation $w$, Halley's method for $f(w) = we^w - z$ gives

which converges cubically. The iteration runs on midpoints (floating point, no ball arithmetic) with a precision that roughly triples at each step, so that the total cost is a small multiple of the last step, which is dominated by one exponential at the target precision.

Certification#

The result is certified a posteriori: for the final approximation $w$, the residual $t = we^w$ is computed in ball arithmetic, and the error is bounded by

where the maximum is over the straight segment from $t$ to $z$, which must not cross a branch cut of $W_k$. For real arguments $W'$ is bounded with $W_0'(x) \le 1/(x+1)$ for $x \ge 0$, $|W_0'(x)| < 2/\sqrt{1 + ex}$ for $x > -1/e$ and $|W_{-1}'(x)| \le 2/\sqrt{1+ex} + 2/|x|$; in the complex case, acb_lambertw_bound_deriv uses bounds of the form $|W'(z)| \le 2.25/\sqrt{|t|(1+|t|)}$ with $t = ez + 1$ near the branch point and analogous ones elsewhere. A separate check (acb_lambertw_check_branch) verifies that $w$ lies in the region of the requested branch $k$, which the residual alone cannot detect.

For an inexact input ball, the function is evaluated at the midpoint and the propagated error is bounded with the same derivative bounds. If the input ball straddles a branch cut, the result is the union of the values on both sides, computed separately.

Use in FLINT#

• arb_lambertw, acb_lambertw and the generic gr_lambertw and gr_lambertw_fmpz for ball contexts.
• The power series versions arb_poly_lambertw_series and acb_poly_lambertw_series use the scalar function for the constant term and Newton iteration on power series for the other coefficients.
• d_lambertw of double_extras and the internal d_lambertw_branch1 provide the double-precision starting values; other functions use them to estimate numbers of terms, for example the error function, the cosine integral and the gamma function of rational arguments in arb_hypgeom.

@misc{flint-doc-algorithms-special-functions-lambert-w,
  author       = {{The FLINT team}},
  title        = {{The Lambert W function}},
  howpublished = {FLINT: Fast Library for Number Theory, documentation, version 3.7.0-dev},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://flintlib.org/doc/algorithms/special-functions/lambert-w.html},
  note         = {Generated 2026-11-02}
}