The DLMF Project: A New Initiative in Classical Special Functions

Daniel W. Lozier

National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8910 USA
E-mail: dlozier@nist.gov

NIST (formerly, National Bureau of Standards) has started an ambitious project that aims to produce a successor to Abramowitz and Stegun's Handbook of Mathematical Functions, published by the National Bureau of Standards in 1964 and reprinted by Dover in 1965. Both editions continue to sell briskly and are widely cited in the scientific literature. However, with the many advances in the theory, computation and application of special functions that have occurred since 1960, a new standard reference is badly needed. NIST intends to satisfy this need by providing a Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (DLMF) as a free Web site together with an associated book and CD-ROM. The Web site will provide many capabilities that are impossible to provide in print media alone.