Winding Numbers, Unwinding Numbers, and the Lambert W Function

Abstract

The unwinding number of a complex number was introduced to process automatic computations involving complex numbers and multi-valued complex functions, and has been successfully applied to computations involving branches of the Lambert W function. In this partly expository note we discuss the unwinding number from a purely topological perspective, and link it to the classical winding number of a curve in the complex plane. We also use the unwinding number to give a representation of the branches W_k of the Lambert W function as a line integral.