The Mathematical Atlas is a freely accessible Web collection of articles and discussions of modern mathematics, produced and maintained by Dave Rusin, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Northern Illinois University. The site is designed to give concise answers to mathematical queries at the college level. It does not, however, provide new research, so it may be of little interest to faculty. Coverage is concentrated in “algebra/number theory and geometry/topology, with some material in combinatorics, numerical mathematics, and logic.” There is very little in terms of analysis, applied mathematics, or statistics. “Articles” are most often posts from a variety of math‐related electronic mailing lists. These text files are very plain but should be readable from almost any browser. In all, the Atlas is a complex collection that includes 113 index pages covering 2,600 topics with 900 links to other Web sites.
The help page “About the mathematical atlas” will be required reading for most users to utilize this unique site. The Atlas uses a modified version of the mathematics subject classification (MSC) scheme developed by the American Mathematical Society and Zentralblatt für Mathematik. It is Rusin’s explanation of mathematical subjects and the relationships that make the Mathematical Atlas so fascinating. Rusin admits the scope of the site is slanted towards his research interests; in some areas, it relies heavily on his own work. Broad subject areas are broken down into more defined subjects with a definition, subfields, history, a short bibliography, links to other Web sites, software applications, and related subjects.
There are several tools to aid the user in navigating the information. The “Clickable index map of mathematics” is designed to graphically show relationships between subjects and the amount of research being published in a particular subject. I found the text sometimes difficult to read in both the text index and in the mouse‐over JavaScript from the image map. The Atlas provides search tools that enable one to use keywords to search the index, subject classifications, newsgroups, Los Alamos’ preprint server, all files from the Mathematical Atlas site, Web pages, etc. as separate searches. The different pages of the site are color‐coded to indicate whether they are a navigation page, index page, special subject pages (papers that do not have an MSC subject heading), selected topics that provide more detailed information, and PDF pages that have been added to accurately display mathematical notation. Some of the color‐coding may not be viewable on some systems, but it is not essential to understanding the content.
The Atlas is by no means a comprehensive Web site, nor does it claim to be. It provides a graphical model of modern mathematics subjects and functions much like a searchable math FAQ file for use by university students at every level. I would recommend it highly for this purpose.
