Richard Feynman • 3/6/2025

Approximating Stirling’s Approximation

This article delves into the historical development of Stirling's approximation (n! ≈ √(2πn)(n/e)^n). It reconstructs the plausible, intuitive reasoning early mathematicians like de Moivre and Stirling might have used, focusing on approximating log(n!) as an integral and using elementary calculus rather than providing a formal proof.

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#mathematics #Factorial #Approximation