The positive-entropy constraint for the classical ideal gas

The problem of determining the state parameters' sub-domain where the behaviour of the classical ideal gas approximates that of the Bose and Fermi ideal gases is tutorially discussed. The entropy of any quantum system being always positive, the classical approximation can only be satisfactory within the parameters' sub-domain where the classical entropy turns out to be positive. We show that the sub-domain determined by this condition is close to that where de Broglie's thermal wavelength is smaller than the mean interparticle distance. The exact determination of the state parameters' region, where the particle number density, the grand potential and the entropy of quantum ideal gases differ from those of the classical gas less than a specified quantity, is also illustrated.