ATLAS HOME PAGE

Purpose of the Atlas

The Atlas for Computing Mathematical Functions describes more than 150 special functions of applied mathematics, statistics, physics, chemistry, computer science, and engineering. This is done in several ways:

Visual by more than 700 graphics in 2- and 3-D views. You can also make and modify these graphics by purchasing, downloading and running the Mathematica notebooks. The notebooks are annotated extensively so that you can match what is being done in a cell to the formulas, graphics, and test values for each function.

Analytical from the formulas used to define and compute each function, as well as from the references to further discussion of analytical properties. The Atlas emphasizes visual and computational properties of functions. For more about analytical properties, see references such as Weisstein's The CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Abramowitz and Stegun's Handbook of Mathematical Functions, or Erdélyi et al's Higher Transcendental Functions.

Computational from the Mathematica notebooks (for accurate test values) or from C and Fortran-90 source programs that can be downloaded to produce numerical values efficiently and usually with at least 10 significant digits accuracy. The source programs are complete with drivers incorporating all functions needed to compute the special function.

About this Web Atlas

The Web version of the Atlas is designed so you can explore visual, analytical, and computational properties of mathematical functions conveniently.

    After browsing for functions that interest you, download the chapters containing the functions. You will then have a self-contained suite of Mathematica notebooks, C source programs, as well as Fortran-90 source programs that you can run on your computer.

    Test your implementation of the programs by running the driver programs included for each function then comparing the numerical output with the tables of test values. The notebook graphics can be checked by comparison with the graphics in your download.

About the print Atlas

The printed versions of the Atlas for Computing Mathematical Functions were published by Wiley Interscience in 1997. The C version is ISBN 0-471-00260-7 and the Fortran-90 version is ISBN 0-471-18171-4. These versions of the Atlas can be previewed and purchased at the website www.wiley.com/products/subject/mathematics/atlas.

   Notebooks in the C version were developed using Mathematica 2.2 and notebooks in the Fortran-90 version were developed with Mathematica 3.0. Both are generally compatible with current versions of the Mathematica system, to which the Web Atlas conforms.