MathWorld

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

MathWorld is an online mathematics reference work, sponsored by Wolfram Research Inc., the creators of the Mathematica computer algebra system. It is also partially funded by the National Science Foundation's National Science Digital Library grant to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Table of contents

1 History
2 See also
3 External links

History

Eric W. Weisstein, the creator of the site, was a physics and astronomy student who got into the habit of writing notes on his mathematical readings. In 1995 he put his notes online and called it "Eric's Treasure Trove of Mathematics"; it contained hundreds of pages/articles, covering a wide range of mathematical topics. At the time it was by far the best single collected resource on mathematics on the web, and became very popular. Eric continuously improved the notes and accepted corrections and comments from online readers. Around 1997, he made a contract with CRC Press and the contents of the site were published in print and CD-ROM, titled "CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics". The free online version became only partially accessible to the public. In 1999 Weisstein went to work for Wolfram Research, Inc. (WRI), and WRI renamed the Math Treasure Trove to MathWorld at http://mathworld.wolfram.com and hosted it on the company's website without access restrictions.

In 2000, CRC Press sued WRI, WRI president Stephen Wolfram, and author Eric Weisstein, due to what they considered a breach of contract: that the MathWorld content was to remain in print only. The site was taken down by a court injunction. The case was later settled out of court, with WRI paying an unspecified amount and complying with other stipulations. Among these stipulations is the inclusion of a copyright notice at the bottom of the website and broad rights for the CRC Press to produce MathWorld in printed book form. The site then became once again available free to the public.

This case made a wave of headlines in online publishing circles. Some people accused CRC Press of corporate greed, and demanded a free online encyclopedia.

Many people depended on having a free mathematics encyclopedic resource available on the Internet. Because of the temporary closure of MathWorld, a number of individuals have tried to start a free online math encyclopedia from scratch. Among the websites currently carrying the most extensive encyclopedic mathematics content are PlanetMath and Wikipedia.

In some mathematical circles, notably the usenet group sci.math, there has been some discussion over the quality of MathWorld's articles. While the information in MathWorld is considered generally correct some people point out that there have occasionally been misleading or false statements included in MathWorldclass="external">[1. Often people making this charge view MathWorld as a convenient resource, but are less likely to view it as definitive. There is no known systematic study of MathWorld's consistency so its quality remains a matter of debate and discussion.

External links

Websites for MathWorld
Showing page 1 (1 - 10 of 45 hits) Next »

MathWorld Interactive

... world work on open-ended word problems called MathWorld Interactive Challenges. During the cycle, students discuss, share ... each other, and ask questions on the he MathWorld Interactive Message Boards. Participating students from all over ... world work on open-ended word problems called MathWorld Interactive Challenges. During the cycle, students discuss, share ... each other, and ask questions on the he MathWorld Interactive Message Boards.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Science/Math/Education/

MathWorld Number Theory

Index to articles in Eric Weisstein's MathWorld in the area of number theory. Index to articles in Eric Weisstein's MathWorld in the area of number theory.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Science/Math/Number_Theory/

MathWorld: Prime Numbers

... of prime-related articles in Eric Weisstein's MathWorld. Index to hundreds of prime-related articles in Eric Weisstein's MathWorld.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Science/Math/Number_Theory/Prime_Numbers/

Mathworld: General Topology

An index of topics including theorems and lemmas. An index of topics including theorems and lemmas.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Science/Math/Topology/General_Topology/

Poincaré Conjecture -- from MathWorld

A widely accessible statement of the Poincaré Conjecture and its implications, with various links and references for further inquiry. A widely accessible statement of the Poincaré Conjecture and its implications, with various links and references for further inquiry.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Science/Math/Topology/Algebraic_Topology/

MathWorld

Index to more than 100 articles on Algebraic Topology. Index to more than 100 articles on Algebraic Topology.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Science/Math/Topology/Algebraic_Topology/

Golygons by Mathworld

What they are, and how to find them. What they are, and how to find them.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Science/Math/Recreations/Polyominoes/

Lindenmayer System

Overview of L-systems at Wolfram MathWorld. Includes supporting links and demonstration notebook. Overview of L-systems at Wolfram MathWorld. Includes supporting links and demonstration notebook.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Computers/Artificial_Life/Lindenmayer_Systems/

Egyptian Fractions

Article from MathWorld describing unit fraction methods. Article from MathWorld describing unit fraction methods.

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Society/History/By_Time_Period/Ancient/Africa/Egypt/Mathematics/

Knot Theory

An overview of knot theory from Mathworld An overview of knot theory from Mathworld

More results: http://dir.calsky.com/Science/Math/Topology/Knot_Theory/

Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.

Submit a Site - Open Directory Project - Become an Editor