# How to plot Lambert W function with pgfplots

I would like to plot the two main branches of the Lambert W function with different colors using pgfplots like here but I don't know how to do it. Is there some way to reflect a function with respect to a line? I am using LuaLaTeX.

Since the Lambert W function is a multivalued non-elementary function, then PGFplots can't plot it by just typing \addplot {LambertW(x)};.

On the other hand, the inverse function, y e^y is elementary and can easily be plotted and as a result, a simple parametric plot will do the trick. If you want to have the -1th and 0th branch of the Lambert W function drawn in different colours; you'll need to plot them separately. The turning point happens at (-1/e, -1), hence splitting the domain at -1 in the following example.

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.13}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
samples=1001,
enlarge y limits=false,
axis lines=middle,
]
\addplot [red!80!black, domain=-5:-1] (x * exp(x), x);
\addplot [blue!80!black, domain=-1:2] (x * exp(x), x);
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


The Lambert W function is built into Sage, so you can access that through sagetex. Notice the principal branch uses 1 argument but the other branches needed two to make it clear which branch you want; e.g. lambert_w(-1,t2).n(digits=6) specifies the -1 branch. Sagetex requires local installation of Sage or, to avoid that, a free SagemathCloud account.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{sagetex}
\usetikzlibrary{spy}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations}
\begin{document}
\begin{sagesilent}
####### SCREEN SETUP #####################
LowerX = -1
UpperX = 10.0
LowerY = -4.0
UpperY = 2.0
step = .01
Scale = 1.0
xscale=1.0
yscale=1.0
#####################TIKZ PICTURE SET UP ###########
output = r""
output += r"\begin{tikzpicture}"
output += r"[line cap=round,line join=round,x=8.75cm,y=8cm]"
output += r"\begin{axis}["
output += r"grid = none,"
output += r"minor tick num=4,"
output += r"every major grid/.style={Red!30, opacity=1.0},"
output += r"every minor grid/.style={ForestGreen!30, opacity=1.0},"
output += r"height= %f\textwidth,"%(yscale)
output += r"width = %f\textwidth,"%(xscale)
output += r"thick,"
output += r"black,"
output += r"axis lines=center,"
#Comment out above line to have graph in a boxed frame (no axes)
output += r"domain=%f:%f,"%(LowerX,UpperX)
output += r"line join=bevel,"
output += r"xmin=%f,xmax=%f,ymin= %f,ymax=%f,"%(LowerX,UpperX,LowerY,   UpperY)
#output += r"xticklabels=\empty,"
#output += r"yticklabels=\empty,"
output += r"major tick length=5pt,"
output += r"minor tick length=0pt,"
output += r"major x tick style={black,very thick},"
output += r"major y tick style={black,very thick},"
output += r"minor x tick style={black,thin},"
output += r"minor y tick style={black,thin},"
#output += r"xtick=\empty,"
#output += r"ytick=\empty"
output += r"]"
##############FUNCTIONS#################################
##FUNCTION 1
t1 =  var('t1')
x1_coords = srange(-1/e,10,step)
y1_coords = [(lambert_w(t1)).n(digits=6) for t1 in x1_coords]
output += r"\addplot[thin, NavyBlue, unbounded coords=jump]  coordinates {"
for i in range(0,len(x1_coords)):
if (y1_coords[i])<LowerY or (y1_coords[i])>UpperY:
output += r"(%f,inf) "%(x1_coords[i])
else:
output += r"(%f,%f) "%(x1_coords[i],y1_coords[i])
output += r"};"
##FUNCTION 2 #########################################
t2 =  var('t2')
x2_coords = srange(-1/e+.000001,-.01,.001)
y2_coords = [(lambert_w(-1,t2)).n(digits=6) for t2 in x2_coords]
output += r"\addplot[thin, orange, unbounded coords=jump] coordinates {"
for i in range(0,len(x2_coords)):
if (y2_coords[i])<LowerY or (y2_coords[i])>UpperY:
output += r"(%f,inf) "%(x2_coords[i])
else:
output += r"(%f,%f) "%(x2_coords[i],y2_coords[i])
output += r"};"
##### COMMENT OUT A LINE OF SAGESILENT BY STARTING WITH #
output += r"\end{axis}"
output += r"\end{tikzpicture}"
\end{sagesilent}
\sagestr{output}
\end{document}


Which results in this output:

• I've never heard of such package, but it seems promising. I'll look into it, thank you. – Emmet Feb 28 '16 at 15:33
• The CTAN documentation on it is here – DJP Feb 28 '16 at 15:38