Abramowitz and Stegun

Infobox Book |
name = Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables


image_caption = Page 97 showing part of a table of common logarithms.
author = Milton Abramowitz and Irene Stegun
country = USA
language = English
genre = Math
publisher = "Dover Publications"
release_date = 1964
isbn = 0-486-61272-4

"Abramowitz and Stegun" is the informal name of a mathematical reference work edited by Milton Abramowitz and Irene Stegun of the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (now the "National Institute of Standards and Technology"). Its full title is "Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables".

Since it was first published in 1964, the 1046 page "Handbook" has been one of the most comprehensive sources of information on special functions, containing definitions, identities, approximations, plots, and tables of values of numerous functions used in virtually all fields of applied mathematics. The notation used in the "Handbook" is the "de facto" standard for much of applied mathematics today.

At the time of its publication, the "Handbook" was an essential resource for practitioners. Nowadays, computer algebra systems have replaced the function tables, but the "Handbook" remains an important reference source. The foreword discusses a meeting in 1954 in which it was agreed that "the advent of high-speed computing equipment changed the task of table making but definitely did not remove the need for tables".

cquote| More than 1,000 pages long, the "Handbook of Mathematical Functions" was first published in 1964 and reprinted many times, with yet another reprint in 1999. Its influence on science and engineering is evidenced by its popularity. In fact, when "New Scientist" magazine recently asked some of the world’s leading scientists what single book they would want if stranded on a desert island, one distinguished British physicist [Michael Berry, [http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15621095.500-christmas-books-----or-maybe-two-or-three---.html New Scientist 22 November 1997] ] said he would take the Handbook.The "Handbook" is likely the most widely distributed and most cited NIST technical publication of all time. Government sales exceed 150,000 copies, and an estimated three times as many have been reprinted and sold by commercial publishers since 1965. During the mid-1990s, the book was cited every 1.5 hours of each working day. And its influence will persist as it is currently being updated in digital format by NIST. [NIST at 100: Foundations for Progress, 1964:Mathematics Handbook Becomes Best Seller — http://www.100.nist.gov/ph_spaceage.htm]

Because the "Handbook" is the product of US Government employees acting in official capacity, it is not protected by copyright. While it can be ordered from the Government Printing Office, it has also been reprinted by commercial publishers, most notably Dover Publications (ISBN 0-486-61272-4), and can be legally viewed and downloaded off the web.

BibTeX entry: @Book{abramowitz+stegun, author = "Milton Abramowitz and Irene A. Stegun", title = "Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables", publisher = "Dover", year = 1964, address = "New York", edition = "ninth Dover printing, tenth GPO printing", isbn = "0-486-61272-4" }

ee also

*Numerical analysis
*Philip J. Davis, author of the Gamma function section and other sections of the book
*Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (DLMF), from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is intended to be a replacement for Abramowitz and Stegun's Handbook of Mathematical Functions

Notes

References

*Citation | editor1-last=Abramowitz | editor1-first=Milton | editor1-link=Milton Abramowitz | editor2-last=Stegun | editor2-first=Irene A. | editor2-link=Irene Stegun | title=Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables | publisher=Dover Publications | location=New York | isbn=978-0-486-61272-0 | year=1972
*citation|first=R. F.|last= Boisvert|first2= D. W. |last2=Lozier|chapter=Handbook of Mathematical Functions|title=A Century of Excellence in Measurements Standards and Technology|editor-first=D. R.|editor-last= Lide|publisher= CRC Press|year= 2001|ISBN =0849312477|pages= 135–139 |url=http://nvl.nist.gov/pub/nistpubs/sp958-lide/135-139.pdf A history of the activities leading up to and surrounding the development of the Handbook

External links

* [http://dlmf.nist.gov/about/book_info.html How to order the book from GPO] .
* The book in scanned format, hosted at [http://www.math.sfu.ca/~cbm/aands/ Simon Fraser University] , [http://www.convertit.com/Go/ConvertIt/Reference/AMS55.ASP?Res=200&Page=0 ConvertIt] .
* The digital successor to the Handbook is currently under development at NIST and is expected to be released as “Digital library of mathematical functions” (DLMF) in 2008. More information can be found at [http://dlmf.nist.gov/ NIST] .