Customer Reviews

An Atlas Of Functions

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The depth of knowledge shown by the authors who emphasize computation of functions is amazing. By presenting their coded functions in concise and easy-to-understand English, as opposed to Pascal, GAT, Basic, Focal, Forth, Fortran, C, Macsyma, or IDL - to name a few I have had to learn - anyone can easily code programs in their favorite language for many decades.

This extensive working reference is as essential as Abramowitz and Stegun and much more illuminating. In case of difficulty, one should find this reference book indispensable.

For someone interested in functions, this book is a must have. The graphics are excellent. The explanations are excellent. The pseudo-code is clearly the product of persons who are not programmers and should not be used. If you write function libraries or mathematical software of any sort, this book is something you really ought to own. But please, code from the formulae. A & S "Handbook" Cody & Waite "Elementary Functions" Spannier & Oldham "Atlas" Each belongs on the nightstand of a serious Numerical Analysis math freak.

This book is astonishing. Since purchasing a copy in 1989 I refer to it very frequently, so that the dustjacket is worn thin from use. I'm not aware of another reference to equal it. I'm in awe of the scope of knowledge of the authors in bringing this amount of information together.

There is nothing in this book that is not in Abramowitz and Stegun.
But the "Handbook" is ugly, and this "Atlas" is the closest a book can be to a piece of art.
I have used the handbook in a need-to basis.
The atlas, instead, I visit it regularly just for the joy of reading it.

Yes... I agree the routines are "cumbersome" or "funny", but... who cares! With the current software available no one will use that section, and the rest it's simply brilliant, impossible to improve.

I am very happy with this book. It is a reference. It has nice pictures, nice paper, nice binding. The content is well presented and simple. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs a reference for some of the basic special functions used in science and engineering applications today.