A continued fraction approximation of the gamma function (Q1947301)

Apart from rather sharp inequalities for the value of \(\Gamma(x+1)\) in the vain of the Stirling, Burnside, Gosper and Ramanujan formulas, the author gives a systematic way of constructing an excellent continued fraction approximation of which the beginning is given explicitly: \[ \Gamma(x+1)\approx\sqrt{2\pi x}\cdot e^{-x} \left(x+\frac{1}{12x-\frac{1}{10x+\frac{a}{{x+\frac{b}{x+\frac{c}{{x+{\frac{d}{x+\ddots}}}}}}}}}\right)^x, \] with \[ a=-{2369\over 252},\;b={2117009\over 1139976},\;c={393032191511\over 1324011300744},\;d={33265896164277124002451\over 14278024104089641878840}. \] Successive truncations provide better estimates than the classical ones. Moreover, the rate of convergence of \(w_n\) is given, where \(w_n\) is defined by \[ n! =\sqrt{2\pi n}\left({n\over e}\right)^n\left(1+{1\over 12n^2-s}\right)^n\cdot \exp{w_n}, \] for different values of \(s\): if \(s\not= 1/10\), the rate is \(n^{-3}\) and for \(s=1/10\) it is \(n^{-5}\).