''MathWorld'' is an online mathematics reference work, created and largely written by

Eric W. Weisstein Eric Wolfgang Weisstein (born March 18, 1969) is an American mathematician and encyclopedist who created and maintains the encyclopedias ''MathWorld'' and ''ScienceWorld''. In addition, he is the author of the '' CRC Concise Encyclopedia of M ...

. It is sponsored by and licensed to Wolfram Research, Inc. and was partially funded by the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

National Science Digital Library The United States' National Science Digital Library (NSDL) is an open-access online digital library A digital library, also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, or a digital collection is an online database of dig ...

grant to the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

History

Eric W. Weisstein, the creator of the site, was a

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

student who got into the habit of writing notes on his mathematical readings. In 1995 he put his notes online and called it "Eric's Treasure Trove of Mathematics." It contained hundreds of pages/articles, covering a wide range of mathematical topics. The site became popular as an extensive single resource on mathematics on the web. Weisstein continuously improved the notes and accepted corrections and comments from online readers. In 1998, he made a contract with CRC Press and the contents of the site were published in print and CD-ROM form, titled "CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics." The free online version became only partially accessible to the public. In 1999 Weisstein went to work for Wolfram Research, Inc. (WRI), and WRI renamed the Math Treasure Trove to ''MathWorld'' and hosted it on the company's website without access restrictions.

CRC lawsuit

In 2000, CRC Press sued Wolfram Research Inc. (WRI), WRI president

Stephen Wolfram Stephen Wolfram (; born 29 August 1959) is a British-American computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. He is known for his work in computer science, mathematics, and theoretical physics. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the American Ma ...

, and author

Eric Weisstein Eric Wolfgang Weisstein (born March 18, 1969) is an American mathematician and encyclopedist who created and maintains the encyclopedias ''MathWorld'' and ''ScienceWorld''. In addition, he is the author of the '' CRC Concise Encyclopedia of M ...

, due to what they considered a breach of contract: that the ''MathWorld'' content was to remain in print only. The site was taken down by a court injunction. The case was later settled out of court, with WRI paying an unspecified amount and complying with other

stipulation In United States law, a stipulation is a formal legal acknowledgment and agreement made between opposing parties before a pending hearing or trial. For example, both parties might stipulate to certain facts and so not have to argue them in court. A ...

s. Among these stipulations is the inclusion of a copyright notice at the bottom of the website and broad rights for the CRC Press to produce ''MathWorld'' in printed book form. The site then became once again available free to the public. This case made a wave of headlines in online publishing circles. The ''

PlanetMath PlanetMath is a free, collaborative, mathematics online encyclopedia. The emphasis is on rigour, openness, pedagogy, real-time content, interlinked content, and also community of about 24,000 people with various maths interests. Intended to be c ...

'' project was a result of MathWorld's being unavailable.

References

External links

* {{Wolfram Research Mathematics websites American educational websites American online encyclopedias

Mathworld ''MathWorld'' is an online mathematics reference work, created and largely written by Eric W. Weisstein. It is sponsored by and licensed to Wolfram Research, Inc. and was partially funded by the National Science Foundation's National Science Di ...

Encyclopedias of mathematics

History

CRC lawsuit

See also

References

External links