Customer Reviews

Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers: Definitions, Theorems, and Formulas for Reference and Review (Dover Civil and Mechanical Engineering)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

over a period of thirty-plus years, i've benefited countless times from this dizzyingly broad and accurate handbook. it must be seen in that light: handbook. but, as such, there is simply no competition, at least for the engineer doing mathematical evaluations or predicting performance. i myself even find it enjoyable to just read in it. also to remember: it is not a compendium of computer-based techniques; indeed, it is a handbook of actual mathematics. i appreciate this small forum as an opportunity to say: Thanks, K&K.

I have both the "hardcover" and "paperback" copies of this book. I feel that this is the "BEST" handbook of mathematics I have reviewed. It is both through and concise. The topical structure and layout of the book is excellent! The paperback is a convenient size, it fits easily within a briefcase. I most strongly recommend this book to any engineer, mathematician, physicist, etc.

I have been using Korn and Korn for over 20 years, and have gone through two hardback editions, before buying the paperback one for my son who is studying electrical engineering. I would not have bought him anything else, because Korn^2 is the MOST complete mathematical reference book I have ever seen. It is infinitely more useable than Bronshtein and Semendyayev, and if you want to have one reference book Korn^2 should be your choice.

Hats off to Dover: you simply will not find a better mathematical reference with the depth and breath of topics addressed for the money. While there may be more prestegious mathematical reference books (Von Nostrand, CRC) but expect to pay at least $100 or more for them.

During 20 years of using the Handbook of Mathematics
(by I.N. Bronshtein, K.A. Semendyayev)I was looking for an English written counterpart in this matter and sure enough I found it in this book. My point of view is personally based on engineering disciplines. With the help of Amazon's preview features it was a quick decision which book to buy. It has a well structured content, the concept is logically outlined, and discusses all chapters an engineer can ask for. That's probably why it has over one thousand pages, which makes it more a mathematical lexicon. The date of the publication might seem to be outdated, yet it proves that mathematic has become an almost static discipline engineers and scientists can rely on.

I have looked into a lot of mathematical handbooks but most are just junk. This one is the best available. The only one that is comparable to this is the one by Abramowitz and Stegun. If you need an applied mathematics handbook, go for this one.

I first encountered Russian translation of this book on my father's bookshelf in late 80s. Since then, the book has been a great help going through university (Applied Mathematics) and facing real-world problems as an applied mathematician. My filed is signal processing and communication systems, but the book covers many topics from elementary trigonometry and geometiric series to non-linear ODE and PDE, probability and statistics. There is a separate chapter on numerical methods.

This was the first book I bought when came to the US in late 90s (used). I use the book weekly, if not daily, so it is too bad that Dover does not have a hardcover edition. I had to buy a used one hardcover.

If ordering used, make sure that you are ordering 1968 (2nd edition). There are also used 1st edition floating around, but it is slightly less complete, especially on random processes, tables of sums and series, as well as some numerical methods.

I do not mean that the book covers every mathematical technique existing to this day, but it is a solid summary of classic mathematics and key results.

I've been searching for a math reference book to use while pursuing an MBA. Much of the math that is used in the classes I'm taking is relatively simple and was more then adequately covered by my undergraduate education. But it has been all been forgotten long ago. This book fits the bill.

Pros: Have been able to find everything I've needed quickly. (Chain rule, logarithms, conditional probability, general solution to quadratic equations.) The explanations are terse but clear.

Cons: Crowed typography, could have used more margins, maybe a choice that was made for this reprint. Sections are number x.y-z, makes it hard to notice when the index refers to a range: x.y-za-zb. The index doesn't always lead directly to the desired section, for instance there is no entry for chain rule, but differentiation takes you right there.

Unfortunately, I'm already through most of the classes where I could have made good use of this book, but for those starting out, this might be a handy reference.

This is a well organized reference book with all the information an average engineer is likely to ever want or need.

While it has very good structure and layout, this well organized reference book is much more a teoretical rather than an applied mathematical handbook. It covers many engineering issues, but it doesn't shows practical examples in mechanics, thermodynamics and electrics, like the old good Pipes/Harvill.