Free brochure for the German Year of Mathematics from Fiz Karlsruhe presents its information services in mathematics
On the occasion of the German Year of Mathematics, Fiz Karlsruhe presents its new information brochure 'A Focus on Mathematics'.
The publication is dedicated to 140 years of knowledge management in mathematics.
Ten articles by expert authors, among them editor Bernd Wegner, who is also editor in chief of Zentralblatt Math, span the bridge from the beginnings of the documentation of scientific results in the 'Jahrbuch der Fortschritte der Mathematik' (1868) to today's mathematical online portals and databases.
Fiz Karlsruhe, a non-profit service institution which has been a partner for information transfer and knowledge management in science and industry for more than 30 years, has close connections to mathematics.
On its foundation in 1977, the editorial departments of 'Zentralblatt der Mathematik' and 'Zentralblatt fur die Didaktik der Mathematik' became part of Fiz Karlsruhe.
"Mathematics is one of the oldest and most important sciences.
"Mathematical knowledge is indispensable for any analytical work and understanding," says Sabine Brunger-Weilandt, president and CEO of Fiz Karlsruhe.
"Mathematics is one of the basic sciences which, besides its classical fields of application, is present everywhere: in psychology, in sports, in the arts, in medicine, in agriculture and food technology, in gambling, in the stock exchange market, and many other areas".
Bernd Wegner explains: "The need to document mathematical publications, thus improving their accessibility, was already recognised in the 19th century and realised by means of reference journals.
"Today, Fiz Karlsruhe fulfils this task using modern information technology.
"To satisfy the demand for reliable and comprehensive information, we offer the world's largest searchable mathematics database, ZMath, in collaboration with European partners".
Together with partners in Germany and abroad, Fiz Karlsruhe produces other mathematical information services besides ZMath.
All of them are offered online.
The new brochure presents Fiz Karlsruhe's entire service spectrum in mathematics.
The articles on electronic sources of information are complemented by practical examples illustrating how information retrieved from databases can be used in biographical research (taking the mathematician Wolfgang Doeblin as an example), for finding solutions to long-term problems (four colour conjecture and four colour theorem) or for handling unexpected mathematical applications (cryptography and Turing machines).
A Focus on Mathematics continues Fiz Karlsruhe's series of special publications on current research topics.
The brochure can be ordered free of charge.
