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NIST Publishes Preview of Math Reference

Posted by kdawson on from the mmmm-math dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Abramowitz & Stegun has been one of the most authoritative references for special functions and engineering mathematics since the 1960s, when it was published by the US Bureau of Standards (now NIST). NIST has been working on an freely-available online updated version to this legendary reference for years. A preview of the digital library of mathematical functions (which uses MathML and requires some of its fonts) is now available from NIST's website."

1 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Yeesh. by richg74 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Yes, it's been up for a while. I know this kind of project always takes a while, but I do hope they can get it / keep it moving. I got my first copy of the original Handbook of Mathematical Functions, often referred to as "the AMS-55" for its catalog number, at the end of 1970, just after its 9th printing. (I was an undergrad at the time.) It's one of a handful of books that's always been handy on my office bookshelf, along with Don Knuth's Art of Computer Programming and a few others.

    Random aside from the You-Know-You're-Getting-Old department: After a recent office move, I was sorting through some boxes of old stuff, and found my K&E slide rule. One of our young guys was really fascinated; he said he had never seen one. He was even more amazed that I knew how to use it. ;-)