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Handbook of Mathematics Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good reference.
Comment: Product was "as expected". I am very satisfied with the quick response to my order.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference book
Comment: I highly recommend the Handbook of Mathematics. It is an excellent resource for every engineering student and professional engineer.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great, but tough to use
Comment: This handbook contains more material than I find in any other single source that I happen to have. But I don't use it as frequently as I use the analogous CRC handbook, or MathWorld and Wikipedia on the Web, or the ancient NBS handbook. Why not? Because one uses a handbook, not as a textbook, but as a source for things one should know, but don't (or perhaps once knew but have forgotten). So one wants to find the thing one is looking for, refresh or extend one's memory, and then put the handbook aside and go back to the problem one is trying to solve. I have trouble locating what I'm looking for in Bronshtein and Semendayev, and when I find it, I often find that I have to look up things elsewhere in the volume to get all of whatever it is I was looking for. So I try my other sources first, and if they don't answer my question, I pick up this book, resignedly, and expect to spend hours rather than minutes getting whatever it is I want to know. There is nothing wrong with that; indeed, this book often supplies me with answers to questions I can't find answered elsewhere.

In case the reader of this review attributes my difficulties with this book to a lack of mathematical background, I'll remark that my academic training, very many years ago, was in math, so I find that I can follow the discussion in this book of any particular thing I look up; it's just a slow process for me. I'm not surprised that it's a favorite in Germany (and in Europe more generally); Europeans in their mathematical training are expected to deal with tough subjects by dogged persistence, and probably feel more comfortable with this style than I do, given my US background. So, overall, it's a book I couldn't do without, but hate having to spend time in.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Loaded with Content
Comment: This book is exactly what the title says it is; a handbook of mathematical techniques and formulas for scientists and engineers. It is more a handbook than a book on mathematics and assumes a prior knowledge on the subjects covered. Readers of this english version of the Bronshtein should take note that it is a "raw" translation of the german version and so some discussion may not do justice to the theory. This in no way takes away from the fact it is an exceptional book and you'd be hard pressed to find any other book with more mathematical content.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: There are several Bronshteins
Comment: Bronstein's "Taschenbuch der Mathematik" is a longtime favorite among german science and engineering students. English language readers should be aware however, that there are numerous different editions of this book. Not only were the german editions constantly enlarged and reworked, but there were also two publishers of the same book, one in East Germany (Teubner Verlag), one in West Germany (Harri Deutsch Verlag). Today both of these publishers sell a "Taschenbuch der Mathematik" based on the original Bronstein, yet they are completely different books. The english edition by Springer Verlag advertised above is based on the current Harri Deutsch edition. An english translation of the Teubner edition is now available as the "Oxford Users' Guide to Mathematics" from Oxford University Press. It is mostly considered to be the better 'Bronstein' (even though Teubner and OUP have dropped his name because the new edition was completely rewritten by E. Zeidler).

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