On the rational approximation of \(e^{-x}\) on [0,\(\infty)\) (Q1078443)

The authors base their approximation on a generalization of the Padé approximants to the exponential that only has a fixed number of parameters even for the degree of the rational approximants tending to infinity. These parameters can actually be chosen optimally and (for the number of parameters equal to 120) show that the order of approximation to the exponential on the half-line is better than \((9.03)^{-n}\). Some numerical evidence indicates that as the number of parameters tends to infinity the authors' method is asymptotically best.