Customer Reviews

Handbook of Mathematical Formulas and Integrals, Second Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tons and tons of mathematical formulas and integrals ranging from the elementary to the very advanced. The reason I bought this, believe it or not, was because it had the general formula for sums of powers of integers( 1^k + 2^k, + ... + n^k) which I never knew existed untill I purchased it. Anyways... plenty( and I mean plenty!) of useful formulas and integrals which are conveniently marked for easy reference. Here's the listing:

Algebra, Numbers, Geometry, Calculus, Integrals, Inequalities, Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Diff. Equat., Numerical Methods, Fourier Series and Laplace and Fourier Transforms, Special Functions, and Probability.

I actually found this book by accident, while just looking through a store. I picked it up and never put it back. One of the things that I have always struggled with, even as a graduate student, is trying to remember all the basic formulas that make your life a lot easier. Sine/Cosine and the natural log equations have always driven me nuts. Starring at a problem thinking to myself "I bet this reduces to something". If you can say the same thing then this book is for you.

Before I would have to look through ten different books to find what I was looking for, but not anymore. I keep this book with me at all times and am never at a loss.

Each chapter is very specific, with a little theory in the beginning, and then the rest is just easy to use formulas. A real life saver when you just want to find something without having to wade through some lengthy derivations.

I ordered this handbook based on a recommendation from a professor of mine. I have used many handbooks in the past, but have not owned one until I bought this one. Unfortunately I never keep track of the authors on the other handbooks I have used. Therefore when I received this suggestion, I went and bought it. Once I received this book, I realized that this book has no useful integrals that I actually need. I am a physics major and none of the reoccurring integrals we use are listed in this book. I consider this a waste of money, and would buy a different/better handbook if your in the market for one.

This is edition 3. Edition 4 came out in April 2008 and Amazon should have quit selling the old edition. They may be confused because Edition 4 added a new author:

Handbook of Mathematical Formulas and Integrals, Fourth Edition (Paperback)
Alan Jeffrey (Author), Hui Hui Dai (Author)

I owned and used this book for the last 9 years and I think it is one of the more difficult to use. Strange organization and mistakes have plagued me from the begining.
If you really use a book like this a lot, then buy something else.

A good selection of integrals, although a little crowded and lacking some integral forms found in more comprehensive handbooks. Elliptic, Bessel functions, Error function etc are covered but the tables are limited. It's very convenient to have all these plus formulae for calculus, differential equations, geometry and more in one reference book. Only three and a half pages of Laplace Transform pairs will limit work with Laplace Transforms.

A lot of information is covered in 453 pages including the index. I would have given 5/5 for more integrals and more comprehensive tables of Error, Bessel functions, Elliptic integrals and Laplace Transforms.