Practical Explicitly Invertible Approximation to 4 Decimals of Normal Cumulative Distribution Function Modifying Winitzki's Approximation of erf

preprint2012arXivOpen access

Abstract

We give a new explicitly invertible approximation of the normal cumulative distribution function: Φ(x)≃1/2+1/21−e−x217+x226.694+2x2Φ(x) \simeq 1/2 + 1/2 \sqrt{1-{e}^{-x^2\frac{17+{x}^{2}}{26.694+2x^2}}}, ∀x≥0\forall x \ge 0, with absolute error <4.00⋅10−5<4.00\cdot 10^{-5}, absolute value of the relative error <4.53⋅10−5<4.53\cdot 10^{-5}, which, beeing designed essentially for practical use, is much simpler than a previously published formula and, though less precise, still reaches 4 decimals of precision, and has a complexity essentially comparable with that of the approximation of the normal cumulative distribution function Φ(x)Φ(x) immediatly derived from Winitzki's approximation of erf(x)(x), reducing about 36% the absolute error and about 28% the relative error with respect to that, overcoming the threshold of 4 decimals of precision.

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