The MathResource interactive math dictionary on CD-ROM

This CD-ROM contains an interactive mathematics dictionary and is written to ``provide a dynamic environment for the study, investigation and display of mathematical concepts. It is interactive in the sense that the reader can do calculations and generate numerical and graphical solutions using the built-in mathematical engine which is a version of Maple. On the whole this is is a very interesting and nice feature that greatly enhances the value of the dictionary. But since it is a relatively new and untried feature in dictionaries, it could certainly be improved: There are many more places where one could think of examples being calculated and graphically presented, and for example when exploring Newton's method it seems that one can only take one step and then one has to type in a new starting point. There are of course links to related concepts and this is one of the main advantages of a computer based dictionary. But there seems to be quite a lot of links that could reasonably be added. For example, starting from Fourier, one cannot find the finite or discrete Fourier transform but these topics are treated as something completely separate. In addition to a general word search and alphabetical search there are indices for the topics precalculus, calculus, linear algebra, number theory, differential equations, numerical analysis, statistics, geometry, continuum mechanics, mechanics, and logic. There are biographical entries for many famous mathematicians and in connection with some topics brief bibliographical sketches are given as well. Some entries are rather brief and one would like to have links to a more detailed presentation, but on the whole the authors give suitably detailed explanations of the terms. But it is clear that one can have different opinions on what these explanations should be and what the primary concepts are. Errors are probably unavoidable and for example the definition of a directed set is not correct, so the reader should be aware that one cannot trust everything completely. The dictionary is intended for both mathematics teachers and their students and it seems to be clear that people with quite a broad range of backgrounds in mathematics can learn very much using it. This CD-ROM can be used in Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 but requires no other supporting software.

Cited in

(6)

Describes a project that uses

Uses Software

Maple

This page was built for publication: The MathResource interactive math dictionary on CD-ROM

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4338899)