Autodidact’s Aid
Kristine K. Fowler
The Universe (which others call the classic will be updated by 2006 as the “Digital
Library) is composed of an indefinite, Library of Mathematical Functions” (http://dlmf.
perhaps infinite number of hexagonal nist.gov). Other useful facts, from the formula for
galleries…. Let it suffice for the moment volume of an icosahedron to random number
that I repeat the classic dictum: The generators, may be found in the more general
Library is a sphere whose exact center is Mathematics Handbook for Science and Engineer-
any hexagon and whose circumference ing by Råde and Westergren.
is unattainable.
Writing and Researching
—Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel
Good writing involves much more than text cod-
The image of the library as the mathematician’s ing, useful as LATEX manuals may be. For advice on
laboratory suggests that of Borges’s infinite library structuring and composing papers, read Higham’s
universe: so much is available it can be difficult Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences,
to navigate effectively through it. A person trying which also discusses preparing and delivering
to learn a new area of mathematics benefits from talks. When compiling a bibliography or searching
pointers shared by a knowledgeable guide, per- for literature on a topic, crucial issues include the
haps an adviser or colleague or librarian. Recording choice of database (MathSciNet is standard for
a few such signposts, which sketch a possible route many searches, but not for a 1918 article or a bio-
through the basic topics, is the aim of this article. mathematics textbook) and the type of search (for
The suggestions of resources come from various example, using the Mathematics Subject Classifi-
mathematicians and a few librarians, identified in cation can generate a more comprehensive search
each section; they wrote full treatments of these sub- than keywords). For helpful context and tips, see
jects in Fowler (2004). The present brief guide Molly T. White’s “Tools and strategies for search-
doesn’t attempt to identify the “best” books, but ing the research literature” in Fowler (2004).
rather to give the independent mathematics learner
recommendations of reasonable starting points; History of Mathematics
therefore resources that are particularly suitable for For an overview, read either Struik’s Concise His-
self-study, mostly at the graduate level, have been tory of Mathematics, which assumes you know
preferred where possible. most of the mathematics discussed, or the first sec-
tion of Math through the Ages by Berlinghoff and
Finding Definitions and Formulas Gouvêa, which assumes you don’t. To delve deeper,
To look up an unfamiliar term or topic, first see the look at Katz’s very good textbook, History of Math-
standard Encyclopaedia of Mathematics edited by ematics: An Introduction, and Grattan-Guinness’s
Hazewinkel; the subscribed Internet version is Norton History of the Mathematical Sciences: The
searchable. A shorter, very handy resource is Eric Rainbow of Mathematics, which emphasizes more
Weisstein’s World of Mathematics, freely available recent work and applied topics. Then take the door-
online (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/); print way into the historical literature provided by The
versions appear as the CRC Concise Encyclopedia Companion Encyclopedia of the History and Phi-
of Mathematics. Check for a specific integral, poly- losophy of the Mathematical Sciences, edited by
nomial, or transform in the Handbook of Mathe- Grattan-Guinness. The bibliographies in these books
matical Functions by Abramowitz and Stegun; this will guide further study in more specific areas.
Key general reference sources include the Bio-
Kristine Fowler is mathematics librarian at the University graphical Dictionary of Mathematicians, a subset
of Minnesota. Her email address is fowler@math.umn.edu. of Gillispie’s Dictionary of Scientific Biography ;