A printed version of Eric Weisstein's amazing opus magnum on math; check out the online version at: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ and then look for a used copy of the book if you need tree-ware.

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Product Description

Upon publication, the first edition of the CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics received overwhelming accolades for its unparalleled scope, readability, and utility. It soon took its place among the top selling books in the history of Chapman & Hall/CRC, and its popularity continues unabated. Yet also unabated has been the dedication of author Eric Weisstein to collecting, cataloging, and referencing mathematical facts, formulas, and definitions. He has now updated most of the original entries and expanded the Encyclopedia to include 1000 additional pages of illustrated entries. The accessibility of the Encyclopedia along with its broad coverage and economical price make it attractive to the widest possible range of readers and certainly a must for libraries, from the secondary to the professional and research levels. For mathematical definitions, formulas, figures, tabulations, and references, this is simply the most impressive compendium available.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #525615 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 3252 pages

Robert Dickau
I cannot praise the work too highly: Its vast scope and readability make the encyclopedia a great success.

W.E. Schiesser, Lehigh University
Impressive...I found it very interesting and spent time reading about a variety of topics for which I had very little background or knowledge...A valuable source of information...

Review
It seems to me that [Weisstein's] encyclopedia inaugurates a new era for two reasons: one, as the suthor says, this book lives and breathes hand-in-hand with the Internet. This book's ease of reference, despite a lack of index due to size limitation, and interactive features place it squarely and successfully in this new age. The second reason why the book is a first in the technology age is that CAS are used extensively by the author, and Mathematica codes are included in this new edition. SIAM Review, Vol. 46

Praise for the first edition:
This extraordinary volume beautifully captures many of the discoveries in mathematics in a readable and authoritative fashion…What is truly exceptional is that this encyclopedia is the product of a single dedicated and talented author…This book is an excellent resource for both teaching and research libraries…
-Journal of Mathematical Psychology

I cannot praise the work too highly: Its vast scope and readability make the encyclopedia a great success.
- Robert Dickau

Impressive...I found it very interesting and spent time reading about a variety of topics for which I had very little background or knowledge...A valuable source of information...
- W.E. Schiesser, Lehigh University

Users will actually look forward to picking it up… one of the more important tools that will help college students actually grasp important mathematical concepts, written in such a way as to invite students to return to it time and again to discover that they really can understand mathematics and apply its concepts to derive solutions to practical problems.

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Customer Reviews

Authoritative but disappointing
This text has a plethora of information regarding anything mathematics has to offer, however it has some limitations. For example, its commentary on probability and applied statistics is lacking in depth, perhaps from the author's lower level of interest in these topics. The same information that can be found in this book, only more up-to-date, is freely available in the public domain. However, the book does look interesting on the coffee table and can be the centre of conversation.

Love the website, hate CRC
The website is superb and even more comprehensive than the text.

Further, after reading the account of how the barbarians at CRC treated the production of this book, I now categorically dispense any and all CRC literature directly to the garbage can without even opening. As an academic, I will never again consider any of their offerings for any of my academic duties or courses.

Don't waste your time with the book. Use the website and avoid CRC.

Labor of Love
This volume is a labor of love of Eric Weisstein. It took me more than two years (two or three pages a day) to read it all the way through from A to Z, but it was worth it! Number theory, integer sequences, probability theory, analytic geometry, and solid geometry are covered very, very well. Calculus and differential equations are not covered so well, although there is a good write-up for the wave equation. There are many illustrations, but there could be more. Also, there could be more worked example calculations--but then the volume wouldn't be so concise. References are excellent. I found very few typos. Recommended for all Ph.D.-level scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.