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While thinking about the Lambert $W$ function I had to consider

Solving $(x+y) \exp(x+y) = x \exp(x)$ for $y$.

This is what I arrived at:

(for $x$ and $y$ not zero)

$(x+y) \exp(x+y) = x \exp(x)$

$x\exp(x+y) + y \exp(x+y) = x \exp(x)$

$\exp(y) + y/x \exp(y) = 1$

$y/x \exp(y) = 1 - \exp(y)$

$y/x = (1-\exp(y))/\exp(y)$

$x/y = \exp(y)/(1-\exp(y))$

$x = y\exp(y)/(1-\exp(y))$

$1/x = 1/y\exp(y) -1/y$

And then I got stuck.

Can we solve for $y$ by using Lambert $W$ function?

Or how about an expression with integrals?

Vincenzo Tibullo
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mick
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  • To solve $exp(a)=exp(a+b)$ we can do for $a$ not $0$ :

    $f_1(a) = ln(-exp(a))$

    Then $f_1(f_1(a)) = a + 2 \pi i $ which is a good answer.

    Likewise let $f(a) = W(-a e^a)$ , then $f(f(a)) = a + b$ wich is probably a solution to $(a+b) e^{a+b} = a e^a$ for $a$ and $b$ not $0$.

    Maybe I should post this as the answer. However I still do not know if $f(f(a))$ can be simplified or written as an integral ?

     – mick Sep 20 '12 at 21:24

1 Answers1

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The solution of $ (x+y) \exp(x+y) = x \exp(x) $ is given in terms of the Lambert W function

Let $z=x+y$, then we have

$$ z {\rm e}^{z} = x {\rm e}^{x} \Rightarrow z = { W} \left( x{{\rm e}^{x}} \right) \Rightarrow y = -x + { W} \left( x{{\rm e}^{x}} \right) \,. $$

Added: Based on the comment by Robert, here are the graphs of $ y = -x + { W_0} \left( x{{\rm e}^{x}} \right) $ and $ y = -x + { W_{-1}} \left( x{{\rm e}^{x}} \right) $

enter image description here

enter image description here

Community
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Mhenni Benghorbal
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  • Hmm but if $W(xe^x) = x$ , then $y = -x + x = 0$ ? – mick Sep 20 '12 at 21:04
  • I got another ' solution ' , see my other comment. – mick Sep 20 '12 at 21:27
  • There are different branches of the Lambert W function. In Maple's numbering, $W_0(x e^x) - x = 0$ for $x \ge -1$, while $W_{-1}(x e^x) - x = 0$ for $x \ge -1$. For $x \le -1$, $W_0(x e^x) - y$ is the nonzero real solution of $(x+y) e^{x+y} = x e^x$. For $-1 \le x < 0$, $W_{-1}(x e^x) - x$ is the nonzero real solution. – Robert Israel Dec 25 '12 at 05:14