A complex coefficient rational approximation of \(\sqrt{1+x}\) (Q1294471)

The diagonal Padé approximants of \(\sqrt{1+x}\) can be written as the convergence of a simple continued fraction. However for \(x<-1\), the approximant can be imaginary, and when this imaginary part is negative, this is unacceptable when this approximant is used to find an approximation for the square root operator to find approximate solutions for the one-way Helmholtz differential equation. Certain modes do not die out exponentially in that case, causing serious stability problems. However, by allowing complex coefficients in the approximant, i.e., by simply allowing the tail of the continued fraction to be replaced by \(i\beta\) with \(\beta>0\), instead of taking zero, the approximant, which is not a Padé approximant anymore but which is still of Padé-type, has the required stability property. The approximant converges everywhere in the complex plane, except for \(x<-1\), but there the imaginary part is guaranteed to be positive. The prime fraction expansion of this modified approximant is given and a computational method to find its coefficients is described.