The theory of the incomplete gamma functions, as part of the theory of conuent hypergeometric functions, has received its rst systematic exposition by Tricomi in the early 1950s. His own contributions, as well as further advances made thereafter, are surveyed here with particular emphasis on asymptotic expansions, zeros, inequalities, computational methods, and applications.

We consider the asymptotic behavior of the incomplete gamma functions fl(\Gammaa; \Gammaz) and \Gamma(\Gammaa; \Gammaz) as a !1. Uniform expansions are needed to describe the transition area z a, in which case error functions are used as main approximants. We use integral representations of the incomplete gamma functions and derive a uniform expansion by applying techniques used for the existing uniform expansions for fl(a; z) and \Gamma(a; z). The result is compared with Olver's uniform expansion for the generalized exponential integral. A numerical verification of the expansion is given in a final section.