A Focus on Mathematics Knowledge Management in Mathematics – 140 Years of Information on World-Wide Literature Editorial Details
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A Focus on Mathematics Knowledge Management in Mathematics – 140 Years of Information on World-wide Literature Editorial details A Focus on Mathematics Editors: Prof. Dr. Bernd Wegner and Staff Unit Communications Preface translated by Regina Karl Design, Production: Petra Schwarz © FIZ Karlsruhe 2008 Title Photo Möbius band in Mihama (Japan). Sculpture by Keizo Ushio. Published with the kind permission of the artist. A Focus on Mathematics 3 Table of Contents Preface 4 Mathematics on the Web: Information services of FIZ Karlsruhe/Zentralblatt MATH – a current status report 5 - 8 Starting the management of knowledge in mathematics: The “Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik“ 9 - 13 The history of Zentralblatt MATH – mathematics reviewing under changing political conditions 14 - 17 MathEduc – information for teaching and learning mathematics 18 - 21 The WDML – vision and reality 22 - 25 Search engines and bibliographic databases 26 - 30 The mathematician Wolfgang Doeblin (1915-1940) – searching the Internet 31 - 34 Cryptography and Alan Turing 35 - 37 Where there is music in Zentralblatt – searching for more remote applications of mathematics 38 - 40 From Four Colour Conjecture to Four Colour Theorem – an analysis by means of Zentralblatt MATH 41 -43 4 A Focus on Mathematics Preface Mathematics is one of the oldest and most important sciences. Mathematical knowledge is indispensable for any analytical work and understanding. In its beginnings, it was firmly linked to other sciences like astronomy and physics. Later, it partially evolved into an independent science called “pure mathematics”. Advances in science and technology, however, brought about a further develop- ment of mathematical applications. Today, mathematics is one of the basic sciences which, besides its “classical” fields of applica- tion, 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. Within this tradition, mathematics holds a firm place in education, starting with elemen- tary school up to university teaching dealing with a vast variety of mathematical applications and services. The wealth of mathematical knowledge and the methods of teach- Sabine Brünger-Weilandt ing mathematics are reflected in mathematical publications. The President & CEO, FIZ Karlsruhe need to document this literature and to improve its accessibility was already recognized in the 19th century. FIZ Karlsruhe has taken on this task right from the time of its foundation, using modern information technology. Together with other European partners and the publishing house Springer, FIZ Karlsruhe offers and edits ZMATH, the world’s largest searchable bibliographical database in mathematics. The information offer is complemented by a similar database covering mathematical education, MathEduc, and the database STMA-Z focusing on statistical applications. This brochure presents the service spectrum mentioned above, which also includes ELibM, the most comprehensive collection of freely accessible electronic full texts of mathematical publications. In addition, practical examples illustrate how information retrieved from databases can be used in biographical research, and for find- ing solutions to long-term problems and unexpected applications in mathematics. Prof. Dr. Bernd Wegner Editor in Chief, Zentralblatt MATH This brochure is dedicated to Dr. Peter Luksch, former Vice President Content and Services, who retired at the end of 2007. Sabine Brünger-Weilandt and Bernd Wegner A Focus on Mathematics 5 Mathematics on the Web: Information services of FIZ Karlsruhe/Zentralblatt MATH – a current status report The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science (Berlin) of FIZ Karlsruhe, Germany produces four international databases and contributes to three portal sites in its scientific areas. In this article we will survey these services and provide an outlook on the future development of information services on the web. Olaf Ninnemann ERAM project of the German Research Foundation, the database of the “Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik (1868-1942)” has been integrated into Historical survey ZMATH in 2004 and is still offered independently according to the guidelines of the DFG (German Re- In 1977, FIZ Karlsruhe was founded as “ Fachinforma- search Foundation). Finally, in 2006, a new database tionszentrum Mathematik, Physik, Energie’’ integra- in statistics and applications of statistics was launch- ting a number of German service institutes, among ed under the heading STMA-Z in collaboration with the them the editorial offices of “Zentralblatt für Mathe- Institute for Statistical Information (ISI) in Voorburg, matik’’ in Berlin and “Zentralblatt für Didaktik der The Netherlands as a successor of their CD/print infor- Mathematik’’ in Karlsruhe. FIZ Karlsruhe is a non-profit mation service STMA which ceased publication in 2005. organization for scientific information services and a member of the Leibniz Association, with the aim to New Internet offers have been established in form of foster access to the worldwide published scientific- mathematics portal sites. One of these is the well- technical information. On the one hand FIZ Karlsruhe known EMIS server (a joint effort of EMS and FIZ Karls- facilitates public access to these data, on the other ruhe) mirrored at over 40 sites worldwide and offering a hand it establishes and produces information services superb digital library ELIB-M giving open access to concerning these data. The institutes of the Leibniz almost 100 mathematical journals, electronic books, Association are supported by the Federal Republic of and conference proceedings and new documents like Germany and the Federal States as individual research Geometric Models and others. Moreover, EMIS offers a institutes or as institutes producing research services. unique access point to the databases ZMATH, MathEduc, STMA-Z and many more. Another new The central activities of FIZ Karlsruhe are the Online mathematics portal site has been established at FIZ service STN International, the creation and production Karlsruhe, offering additional information on special of databases and portal sites for its scientific fields, topics from pure and applied mathematics for academic document delivery via FIZ AutoDoc and the develop- and non-academic users. The list of items covered ment of e-Science solutions, such as the KnowEsis includes the fields of Mathematical Finance, Statistics, products. Mathematical Education, and History of Mathematics. The addition of topics like Computational Fluid With respect to databases, FIZ Karlsruhe has since its Dynamics, New Materials, and Control Theory is in foundation been responsible for Zentralblatt MATH preparation. (ZMATH) and MathEduc (former Zentralblatt für Didak- tik der Mathematik, ZDM), two worldwide renowned The stable production and constant development of database services in mathematics research and edu- these services in cooperation with national and interna- cation, respectively. In addition, as a result of the tional partners is one of the major aims of FIZ Karlsruhe. 6 A Focus on Mathematics Zentralblatt MATH was founded by the publisher via the EMIS/FIZ Karlsruhe mathematics server using Springer in 1931, aiming at an up-to-date review ser- the same French based software on the internet. The vice for mathematical publications, since the existing service is edited by the German Society for Education “Jahrbuch” had accumulated a delay of approx. five in Mathematics (GDM), EMS and FIZ Karlsruhe. years due to their policy of collecting the complete set of reviews for one particular year before final publica- tion. Until the mid-70s of the last century ZMATH What kind of information is offered? appeared only in printed form. In the late seventies first retrieval tests were carried out and at the time of The databases ZMATH, MathEduc and STMA-Z cover integration of ZMATH into FIZ Karlsruhe, the first peer-reviewed publications in their fields including online version based on the metadata was made avai- applied areas. Publication is meant here in a rather lable to the public via the INKA host of FIZ Karlsruhe, broad sense, including articles from journals, collec- which caused a sensation at the delayed 1983 ICM at tions and conferences, monographs and textbooks, Warsaw where online access to the database could be theses and habilitations (if communicated), multime- presented. A much more improved version allowing to dia publications on CD, DVD and videos, as well as search also within the review texts ands with additio- web documents (for example geometric models, spe- nal keywords, was made accessible worldwide two cial data collections like databases for codes, lattices, years later via STN International, the online service of and others) from all over the world. FIZ Karlsruhe and Chemical Abstracts Service, Colum- bus, Ohio. The database entries contain exact bibliographic information, reviews from independent experts and/ As early as 1993, ZMATH was offered via the internet or abstracts provided by authors /publishers, key- as a result of a German project aiming at the improve- words assigned by reviewers/editors, links to online ment of database usage based on accessibility of articles (via persistent identifiers such as DOI to information at the user’s desk. Another major improve- publishers and via general html links to digital libra- ment of the database offer was achieved by installing ries),