TITLE: How to solve $e^x=x$?
QUESTION [10 upvotes]: I mean how to solve $e^x=x$ in complex plane? Is there a solution?
I know there is no real solution to this because apparently y=x and y=$e^x$ have no interception.

REPLY [6 votes]: Suppose we want to solve $z=e^z$. First let's start with Euler's Formula:
$$
e^{x+iy}=e^x\cos(y)+ie^x\sin(y)\tag{1}
$$
Thus, we want to solve
$$
x=e^x\cos(y)\quad\text{and}\quad y=e^x\sin(y)\tag{2}
$$

Locating the Roots
From $(2)$, we get $x^2+y^2=e^{2x}$. Therefore, the roots lie on the conjugate curves
$$
y^2=e^{2x}-x^2\tag{3}
$$
The roots of $z=e^z$ will lie on $(3)$ at the intersections with the curves
$$
\cos(y)=xe^{-x}\tag{4}
$$
Note that $(4)$ says $x\le0\implies\cos(y)\le0\implies y^2\ge\pi^2/4$. However, $e^{2x}-x^2\le1$ for $x\le0$. Therefore, all root have $x\gt0$.

Numerical Solution
To solve numerically, we can solve the equation
$$
xe^{-x}=\cos\left(\sqrt{e^{2x}-x^2}\right)\tag{5}
$$
for $x$ then use $(3)$ to get $y$.
As $x$ gets large, $xe^{-x}$ gets very small. This has two consequences: from $(3)$, we get
$$
y=e^x\sqrt{1-\left(xe^{-x}\right)^2}=e^x+O\left(x^2e^{-x}\right)\tag{6}
$$
and from $(4)$, we get that $y$ is very close to an odd multiple of $\pi/2$. Thus, for large $k$, we get
$$
z_k\approx\log(k\pi+\pi/2)\pm i(k\pi+\pi/2)\tag{7}
$$

Examples
Even for $k=0$, $(7)$ is not wildly wrong. $(7)$ gives
$$
0.45158271\pm1.57079633\,i
$$
whereas using $(3)$ and $(5)$ to solve numerically gives
$$
0.31813151\pm1.33723570\,i
$$
For $k=10$, $(7)$ approximates
$$
3.49610514\pm32.98672286\,i
$$
while using $(3)$ and $(5)$ numerically gives
$$
3.49851521\pm32.88072148\,i
$$
For $k=1000$, $(7)$ approximates
$$
8.05298504\pm3143.16344992\,i
$$
while using $(3)$ and $(5)$ numerically gives
$$
8.05298751\pm3143.16088786\,i
$$