Talk:Abramowitz and Stegun

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[edit] "The notation used in the Handbook is the de facto standard for much of applied mathematics today."

Seems a little bogus. It was published as late as 1964. Having looked at the scans, I'm not aware of any major innovations in notation in this work.

I don't see a contradiction between the quote and what you're saying. The notation in A&S was indeed not new, as a matter of fact I think very little in the handbook was new. Nevertheless, the writers had to pick one notation for the various special functions out of several alternatives, and the notation they chose has largely stuck. -- Jitse Niesen 00:38, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] De facto vs De facto

Hi Jitse. Sorry to revert your edit, but I believe that the phrase de facto has a very very specific definition, and furthermore that this was the intended sense in the article. I think it's used appropriately in the article, and that it adds to the meaning of the sentence. AMS-55 is a de facto standard, and I believe that many readers will be interested in this precise use of language. The de facto article describes it nicely; the subtle nuance of this nice little piece of language would otherwise be lost on many readers, I suspect.

Best wishes, Robinh 08:27, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Hello. I think that if the phrase "de facto" is likely to be misunderstood, it shouldn't be used. If you do want to link, then a link to wikt:de facto may be more appropriate. But it's such a minute detail that I don't want to spend more time on this. Cheers, Jitse Niesen (talk) 09:56, 20 August 2007 (UTC)