ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C & R L N e w s ■ M a y 2 0 0 0 / 3 9 5 T h i s s c i e n c e i s n ’ t j u s t f o r m a t h e m a t i c i a n s a n y m o r e INTERNET RESOURCES ' M a t h e m a t i c s r e s o u r c e s o n t h e I n t e r n e t b y T i m o t h y E. M c M a h o n M a t h i s c o o l . . . a n d i t h a s b e e n f o r a l o n g t i m e . T h r o u g h o u t t h e a g e s , m a t h ­ e m a t i c i a n s h a v e m a d e e a r t h - m o v i n g d i s c o v ­ e r i e s a n d c o n t r i b u t e d t o o u r s p e c i e s e v e r ­ p r e s e n t d r i v e i n t o t h e t e c h n o l o g i c a l f u t u r e . T h i n k o f t h i s p a s t h a l f - c e n t u r y a l o n e . D u r ­ i n g t h e 1 9 5 0 s , C a t h l e e n M o r a w e t z w r o t e i n ­ f l u e n t i a l p a p e r s t h a t h e l p e d r e v o l u t i o n i z e a i r ­ p l a n e w i n g d e s i g n , l e a d i n g t o s m o o t h e r f l i g h t . I n 1 9 9 8 , s h e w a s a w a r d e d t h e N a t i o n a l M e d a l o f S c i e n c e , A m e r i c a ’ s h i g h e s t s c i e n t i f i c h o n o r , f o r h e r c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o s c i e n c e . I n 1 9 9 4 , A n d r e w W i l e s ’ s l o n g a n d s o l i t a r y w o r k l e d t o h i s m u c h c e l e b r a t e d p r o o f o f F e r m a t ’ s L a s t T h e o r e m . A n d o n a m o r e w h i m s i c a l n o t e , a t e a m f r o m M a c a l e s t e r C o l l e g e w o n s e c o n d p r i z e a t t h e B r e c k e n r i d g e I n t e r n a t i o n a l S n o w S c u l p ­ t u r e C o m p e t i t i o n t h i s y e a r . T h e i r e n t r y ? Y o u g u e s s e d i t — a m o d e l o f t h e E n n e p e r S u r f a c e , a m i n i m a l s u r f a c e w i t h t r e m e n d o u s s y m m e ­ t r y a n d h u g e o v e r h a n g s . 1 W h i l e t h e r e h a v e b e e n s o m e h i g h l y v i s ­ i b l e a c h i e v e m e n t s i n m a t h e m a t i c s , i t ’ s o n l y o v e r t h e p a s t f i v e o r s i x y e a r s t h a t m a t h e m a t ­ i c s h a s e m e r g e d i n t o t h e s p o t l i g h t o f p o p u l a r c u l t u r e . B o o k s l i k e T h e M a n W h o L o v e d O n l y N u m b e r s , w h i c h h i g h l i g h t s t h e l i f e o f p r o l i f i c m a t h e m a t i c i a n P a u l E r d o s , o r t h e c o n t r o v e r ­ s i a l w o r k T h e B i b l e C o d e — w h o s e t h e s i s i s t h a t t h r o u g h m a t h e m a t i c a l a n a l y s i s , c o d e d p r o p h e s y c a n b e d r a w n f r o m t h e H e b r e w B i b l e — a r e f l y i n g o f f b o o k s h e l v e s e v e r y ­ w h e r e . G o o d W i l l H u n t i n g d r e w h u g e c r o w d s t o t h e t h e a t e r s t o s e e a f i c t i o n a l m a t h e m a t i c a l g e n i u s f r o m t h e w r o n g s i d e o f t h e t r a c k s i n S o u t h B o s t o n g r a p p l e w i t h h i s i n n e r d e m o n s . S o m e o f t h e s e w o r k s a r e n o t w i t h o u t c o n t r o ­ v e r s y , b u t t h i s o n l y s e r v e s t o g e t p e o p l e t a l k ­ i n g a b o u t m a t h e m a t i c s . A n i n c r e a s i n g n u m b e r o f r e p o r t e r s a r e a l s o i n c l u d i n g m a t h e m a t i c s i n t h e i r c o v e r a g e o f s c i e n t i f i c a d v a n c e m e n t . I n h i s N e w Y o r k T i m e s c o l u m n , P a u l L e w i s p o i n t e d t o a n a r t i c l e t h a t a p p e a r e d i n T h e N o t i c e s o f t h e A m e r i c a n M a t h e m a t i c a l S o c i e t y h i g h l i g h t i n g “ W h a t ’ s N e w i n M a t h e m a t i c s . ” T h i s s e c t i o n o f t h e A m e r i c a n M a t h e m a t i ­ c a l S o c i e t y ( A M S ) W e b s i t e i s d e s i g n e d a s a p u b l i c r e l a t i o n s e f f o r t t o h e l p r e p o r t e r s f i n d o u t a b o u t s t o r i e s i n m a t h e m a t i c s . T h e A M S ’s W h a t ’ s N e w i n M a t h e m a t i c s W e b o f f e r i n g s t r o n g l y i l l u s t r a t e s t h e W e b ’ s i m p o r t a n c e a s a v e h i c l e f o r t h e t r a n s f e r o f t e c h n i c a l a n d s c i ­ e n t i f i c m a t e r i a l s i n a l a n g u a g e t h a t i s r i g h t f o r t h e n o n t e c h n i c a l p o p u l a t i o n . T h e W e b ’ s g r o w t h h a s a l l o w e d m a t h e m a t ­ i c s t o p e r c o l a t e u p t o t h e d e s k t o p o f a n y o n e w i l l i n g t o t a k e a f e w m i n u t e s t o l o o k f o r t h e t o p i c . W e b s i t e s , r e v i e w i n g l i t e r a t u r e d a t a ­ b a s e s , p r e p r i n t s e r v e r s , j o u r n a l s , a n d a h o s t o f o t h e r r e s o u r c e s a r e b u t a c l i c k o r t w o a w a y . A bout th e a u th o r T im o t h y E. M c M a h o n is a n e le c t r o n ic p u b li s h in g s p e c ia lis t w i t h t h e A m e r ic a n M a t h e m a t i c a l S o c ie ty a n d a r e fe r e n c e lib r a r ia n w i t h J o h n s o n a n d W a le s U n i v e r s i t y ; e - m a i l : t x m @ a m s . o r g mailto:txm@ams.org 3 9 6 / C & R L N e w s ■ M a y 2 0 0 0 This article w ill p o in t to a s e le c t set o f re ­ sou rces in th e h o p e s that b y d o in g so, the re a d e r’s a p p e tite w ill b e stim u lated e n o u g h to g a th e r a d d itio n a l reso u rces a n d to pass these o n to frien d s a n d c o lle a g u e s . In s o m e cases th rou gh ou t this article, resou rce d escrip ­ tions p r o v id e d b y the c o n te n t creators h a v e b e e n used. M etasites • O p e n D i r e c t o r y P r o je c t — M a t h e m a t ­ ics. T h e O p e n D ir e c to r y P r o je c t ’s g o a l is to p r o d u c e the m o st c o m p r e h e n s iv e d ire c to ry o f the W e b , b y r e ly in g o n a vast a rm y o f v o l ­ unteer editors. T h e m athem atics in d e x is sim i­ lar to th e Y a h o o ! site in its p re s e n ta tio n o f a rich set o f links to In te rn e t resou rces. A cce s s : h ttp :/ / d irecto iy .n etsca p e.co m / S cien ce/ M a th . • Y a h o o ! S c ie n c e : M a t h e m a t ic s . W ith h a lf a m illio n sites d iv id e d in to m o r e than 25,000 c a te g o rie s , Y a h o o ! is b o th b r o w s a b le and s e a rc h a b le — a g o o d p la c e to fin d links to relevan t resources. Access, http://dir.yahoo. com /Science/M ath em atics/. • G a la x y . L a u n c h e d in January 1994, G a l­ axy is the In te r n e t’s o ld e s t s e a rc h a b le d ir e c ­ tory. L ik e Y a h o o ! an d T h e O p e n D ire c to ry Project, this res o u rc e p r o v id e s a robust g r o u p o f p o in te rs to m a th em a tica l re s o u rc e sites o n the W e b . Access: http ://galaxy.ein et.n et/gal- a x y/ S cien ce/ M a th em a tics. h tm l. • P e n n State M a t h e m a t ic s D e p a r t m e n t . This site is in c lu d e d h e r e b e c a u s e o f its r o ­ bust o ffe r in g o f W e b res o u rc e s in the m a th ­ em atical s c ien c e. A c ce s s : h ttp :/ / w w w .m a th . u p en n .ed u / M ath S ou rces.h tm l. • E u le r S e r v ic e : E u r o p e a n L ib r a r ie s a n d E le c t r o n ic R e s o u r c e s in M a t h e m a t ic a l S c i­ e n c e s . T h e E u ro p ea n Libraries and E lectron ic R esou rces (E U L E R ) P ro je c t in M a th em a tica l Sciences p r o v id e s a site fo r s e a rc h in g ou t m athem atical resou rces, such as b o o k s , p r e ­ prints, W e b p a g es , abstracts, p r o c e e d in g s , s e ­ rials, te c h n ic a l reports, an d theses. Access: h ttp :/ / w w w .em is.d e/ p rojects/ E U L E R / . M ath em atical so cie tie s • A m e r i c a n M a t h e m a t ic a l S o c ie ty . T h e A m e r ic a n M a th em a tica l S o c ie ty w a s fo u n d e d in 1888 to fu rth er m a th em a tica l resea rch an d sch ola rsh ip . T h e s o c ie t y ’s W e b site, e -M A T H , is c u r re n tly d i v i d e d in to e ig h t a u d ie n c e a rea s f o r m e m b e r s , a u t h o r s , e m p l o y ­ m e n t , m e e t i n g s , w h a t ’s n e w in m ath ­ em atics, g o v e r n m e n t affa irs, p u b lic a t io n s a n d r e s e a r c h to o ls , an d c u s to m e r services. T h e site a ls o con tain s a s t a b le o f e l e c t r o n i c j o u r n a ls a n d th e “M a th S c iN e t” database, a s e a rc h a b le W e b d a ­ tabase p r o v id in g access to m o r e than 59 years o f M a t h e m a t ic a l R eview s a n d C u r r e n t M a t h ­ e m a t i c a l P u b l i c a t i o n s ( f r o m 1940 to th e p re s e n t). A ccess: h ttp :/ / w w w .a m s .o rg / . • society ror industrial ana Applied M a t h e m a t ic s (S I A M ). S IA M w a s fo r m e d in 1952 to a d v a n c e s c ie n c e a n d t e c h n o lo g y in in du stiy. T h e S IA M site con ta in s a p r o fe s ­ sion al o p p o rtu n itie s area, c o n fe r e n c e h ig h ­ lights a n d a res o u rc e s area c o n ta in in g T e X m a c r o p a c k a g e s , in fo r m a tio n a b o u t m a th ­ em a tics in industry, a n d g ra d u a te p ro gra m s. A ccess: h ttp :/ / w w w .s ia m .o rg / . • M a t h e m a t ic a l A s s o c ia t io n o f A m e r ­ ic a ( M A A ) . T h e M A A bills itself as the w o r l d ’s largest o r g a n iz a tio n d e v o t e d to the interests o f c o lle g ia t e m ath em atics. T h e s o c ie ty se rv e s 30,000 m e m b e rs , w h ic h in c lu d e c o l l e g e an d u n iversity faculty, t w o - y e a r c o l l e g e faculty, h ig h s c h o o l teachers, g o v e r n m e n t a n d c o r ­ p o ra te w o rk e rs , g ra d u a te s c h o o l faculty, re ­ search m athem aticians, a n d g ra d u a te a n d u n­ d erg ra d u a te students. Like m a n y p ro fe s s io n a l soc ie tie s, the o r g a n iz a tio n hosts a set o f e l e c ­ tro n ic journals, e m p lo y m e n t o p p o rtu n itie s , an d m eetin g s. S o m e n ic e featu res o f the W e b site are th e fr e e b o o k r e v ie w s and th e Stu­ d e n t a n d Student C h a p te r p a g e , w h ic h p r o ­ v id e links to student ch ap ters that h a v e W e b sites. Access: h ttp :/ / w w w .m a a .o rg / . • E u r o p e a n M a t h ­ e m a t ic a l S o c ie ty (E M S ). E M S w a s f o u n d e d in 1990 in M a d r a lin n e a r W a rsa w , P o la n d . T o d a y its m e m b e r s h ip consists o f all m a th em a tica l s o c i­ http://directoiy.netscape.com/Science/Math http://dir.yahoo http://galaxy.einet.net/gal- http://www.math http://www.emis.de/projects/EULER/ http://www.ams.org/ http://www.siam.org/ http://www.maa.org/ C & R L N e w s ■ M a y 2 0 0 0 / 3 9 7 eties in E u rope and about 2,000 individual m em bers w h o jo in ed through their national societies. A ccess: http://w w w .em is.de/. Preprint servers • G lo b a l D ir e c t o r y o f M a th e m a tic s P r e ­ p r in t a n d e -P r in t S e rv e rs . T h e m ission o f the G lo b a l D irecto ry o f Preprint and e-Print Servers is to m ake available to the m athem ati­ cal com m u n ity the current h o m e p a g e URLs and e-m ail contacts o f all m athem atical p re ­ p rin t and e-p rin t s e rv e rs th ro u g h o u t the w o rld . This d irecto ry p ro v id e s m ath em ati­ cians w ith a to o l to find any o f these servers to b ro w s e the articles p o s te d on them and, in m any cases, to post an article to the server itself. T h e servers are d iv id e d into three cat­ egories: um brella servers, w h ic h c o v e r all ar­ eas o f m athem atics— such as the m athem at­ ics section o f the Los A la m os (G in s p a rg ) e- Print A rc h iv e and the MPRESS/MathNet p re ­ prints server, special subject servers, and serv­ ers adm inistered b y mathematics departm ents and institutes. T h e re is an additional link to r e t ir e d p r e p r in t s e r v ic e s . A ccess: http:// w w w .a m s.o rg/ g lo b a l-p rep rin ts/ . • M a t h e m a t i c s s e c t i o n o f t h e L o s A la m o s (G i n s p a r g ) e -P rin t A rc h iv e . Started in August 1991, http://xxx.lanl.gov is a fully autom ated electronic archive and distribution server for research papers. C o v e re d areas in­ clude physics and related disciplines, math­ ematics, nonlinear sciences, com putational lin­ guistics, and neuroscience. Users can retrieve papers fro m the archive either through an online W e b interface or by sending com m ands to the system via e-mail. Users can register to autom atically r e c e iv e e-m ail notification o f n e w ly submitted papers in areas o f interest to them w h e n papers are received in those ar­ eas. Mechanisms for searching through the c o l­ lection o f papers are also provided. Access: http://xxx.lanl.gov/archive/math. • M a th e m a tic a l P r e p r in t S e a r c h S y s ­ t e m ( M P R E S S / M a t h N e t . p r e p r i n t s ) . MPRESS is an index o f mathematical preprints and not a full-text archive. MPRESS, supported b y the M ath-N et Project, started under the auspices o f the E uropean M athem atical Soci­ ety. Further d e v e lo p m e n t o f this resource is c u rre n tly in th e p la n n in g p h a se. Access: http://M athNet.preprints.org/. • U n iv e r s it y o f I llin o is D e p a r t m e n t o f M a th e m a tic s P r e p r in t s . T h e U niversity o f Illinois at U rbana-C ham paign D ep artm en t o f Mathem atics H o m e P a g e contains an archive o f current and previou s preprints dealing with A lg eb ra ic N u m b er T h eo ry, K -Th eory, and the d ep a rtm en t’s Faculty and G raduate Student Research Reports. Each o f these sections is freq u en tly updated. U n p ro cessed n e w sub­ missions are also accessible. A link to the departm ent’s h o m e p a g e p rovides inform ation o n the various types o f math research b e in g co n d u cted at the U niversity o f Illinois at Ur- bana-Cham paign. Access: h ttp://w w w .m ath. uiuc.edu/Preprints/. Journals T h e re are m any lists o f electron ic journals available o n the W e b and b ecau se o f the v o l ­ um e, this article w ill not p oin t out any single journal o r set o f journals. A n y o f the d ire c ­ tory services listed previou sly w ill have p oin t­ ers to these. T h e m athem atical societies are also a w ell-esta b lish ed poin t o f access fo r e- journals. S om e societies like AM S o ffe r free full-text access to several journals, w h ile sub­ scription rates a p p ly to others in the stable. F o r -p r o fit p u b lish ers a lso p r o v id e access points to the m athem atical literature. D atabases • M a th S c iN e t. MathSciNet is a searchable W e b database p ro v id in g access to m o re than 58 years o f M a th e m a tic a l Review s and C u r ­ r e n t M a th e m a tic a l P u b lic a tio n s (fr o m 1940 to the p resen t). A M S adds a p p r o x im a te ly 65,000 re v ie w s to the database annually. R e­ v ie w s in the database are contributed by m ore than 5,000 mathematicians w o r ld w id e and are d ra w n fro m m o re than 1,600 journals in the field o f m athem atics. Access: h ttp :/ / w w w . ams.org/mathscinet. • Z e n t r a lb la t t M A T H . Zentralblatt’s d a ­ tabase o f m athem atical r e v ie w s is a c o m p e ti­ tor to MathSciNet. Zentralblatt adds a p p ro x i­ m ately 65,000 re v ie w s to their database each y ea r and claims a p p r o x i m a t e l y 5,000 m athem a­ t i c i a n s as r e ­ v i e w e r s w o r ld - http://www.emis.de/ http://www.ams.org/global-preprints/ http://xxx.lanl.gov http://xxx.lanl.gov/archive/math http://MathNet.preprints.org/ http://www.math http://www 3 9 8 / C & R L N e w s ■ M a y 2 0 0 0 wide. This database contains reviews of math­ e m a t i c a l a r t i c l e s f r o m 1 9 3 1 f o r w a r d . A c c e s s : http: //w w w . emis. de/ZM ATH/. M a th lib ra rie s Library Web sites often present a well thought- out group of resources to assist students, li­ brarians, and others in the mathematical and science community. Following is a small sub­ set of pointers to several the many fine li­ brary sites available. • University o f Washington Mathemat­ ics Research L ib ra ry . Access: h ttp :// www.lib.washington.edu/math/. • The Courant Institute o f Mathemati- cal Sciences L ib ra ry . Access-, h ttp :// www.nyu. edu/pages/cimslibrary/. • Physics Astronom y Mathematics Li­ brary at the University o f Texas at Austin. Access: http://w ww .lib.utexas.edu/Libs/ pma/. • University o f Notre Dame Mathemat­ ics Library. Access: http://www.nd.edu/ -mathlib/. • C ornell University Mathematics Li­ brary. Access: http://www.math.cornell.edu/ -library/. B iog ra phies The Web is full of resources that can be used to find information about individual math­ ematicians, groups of mathematicians, women mathematicians, and ancient mathematicians. Of the scores of sites available, here are but a few: • The MacTutor H istory o f Mathemat­ ics Archive. Provides access to an integrated collection of more than 1,000 biographies and historical articles of a mathematical nature, with interactive birthplace maps and the fa­ mous curve applet. Access: http://w w w - history. mcs. st-and. ac. uk/history/. • B i o g r a p h i e s o f W o m e n M a t h e m a t i ­ c i a n s . T h i s s i t e i s a n o n g o i n g p r o j e c t b y s t u ­ d e n t s i n m a t h e m a t i c s c l a s s e s a t A g n e s S c o t t C o l l e g e , i n A t l a n t a , G e o r g i a . D e s i g n e d t o i l ­ l u s t r a t e t h e n u m e r o u s a c h i e v e m e n t s o f w o m e n i n t h e f i e l d o f m a t h e m a t i c s , t h e s i t e c o n t a i n s b i o g r a p h i c a l e s s a y s o r c o m m e n t s o n p r o m i n e n t w o m e n m a t h e m a t i c i a n s a n d s o m e p h o t o s . A c c e s s : h t t p : / / w w w . a g n e s s c o t t . e d u / l r i d d l e / w o m e n / w o m e n . h t m . • Catalog o f the Scientific Com m unity in the 16th and 17th Centuries. A collec­ tion of 631 detailed biographies on members of the scientific community during the l6th and 17th centuries, with vital facts about each individual and their contributions to science. One hundred sixty-four entries in the data­ base claim mathematics as their primary sci­ entific discipline. Access: http://es.rice.edu/ ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/catalog, html. • newton.org.uk. This “virtual museum” contains a richly populated set of resources dedicated to Newton. The author intends to broaden the scope of the site to include gen­ eral history of science information and a com­ prehensive catalog of links. Access: http:// www.newton.org.uk/. O ther resources • The Mathematics Genealogy Project. The intent of this project is to compile infor­ mation about all the mathematicians of the world. The project goal is to list all individu­ als who have received a doctorate in math­ ematics. For each individual, the site intends to show the complete name of the degreed recipient, name of the university that awarded the degree, year in which the degree was awarded, complete title of the dissertation, c o m p l e t e n a m e ( s ) o f t h e a d v i s o r ( s ) . A c c e s s : http: / /hcoonce. math. mankato. msus.edu/. • Jahrbuch. The aim of the JFM-project is to build a digital library for classical math­ ematics on the Internet. This will consist of a complete electronic catalog of mathematical publications from 1868 to 1943 and a full- text archive that stores the most relevant pub­ lications from that period. Access: http:// www .emis. de/projects/JFM/. N ote 1. See http://madras.math.macalester.edu/ snow2000/ for pictures and details about the entry and http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ EnnepersMinimalSurface.html for a three di­ mensional model. ■ C o rre c tio n In the March 2000 issue of C&RL News, Susanna D. Boylston and Jeff Bullington should have been listed as the authors of “ACRL’s New Member Mentoring Pro­ gram.” The editors regret the error http://www.lib.washington.edu/math/ http://www.nyu http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/ http://www.nd.edu/ http://www.math.cornell.edu/ http://www- http://www.agnesscott.edu/ http://es.rice.edu/ http://www.newton.org.uk/ http://madras.math.macalester.edu/ http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ C & R L N e w s ■ M a y 2 0 0 0 / 3 9 9