Bronshtein and Semendyayev (often just Bronshtein or Bronstein, sometimes BS) (Or Handbook Of Mathematics) is the informal name of a comprehensive handbook of fundamental working knowledge of mathematics and table of formulas originally compiled by the Russian mathematician Ilya Nikolaevich Bronshtein and engineer Konstantin Semendyayev.
The work was first published in 1945 in Russia and soon became a "standard" and frequently used guide for scientists, engineers, and technical university students. Over the decades, high popularity and a string of translations, extensions, re-translations and major revisions by various editors led to a complex international publishing history centered around the significantly expanded German version. Legal hurdles following the fall of the Iron Curtain caused the development to split into several independent branches maintained by different publishers and editors to the effect that there are now two considerably different publications associated with the original title – and both of them are available in several languages.
With some slight variations, the English version of the book was originally named A Guide-Book to Mathematics, but changed its name to Handbook of Mathematics. This name is still maintained up to the present by one of the branches. The other line is meanwhile named Users' Guide to Mathematics to help avoid confusion.
Overview Bronshtein and Semendyayev is a comprehensive handbook of fundamental working knowledge of mathematics and table of formulas based on the Russian book (, literally: "Handbook of mathematics for engineers and students of technical universities") compiled by the Russian mathematician Ilya Nikolaevich Bronshtein () and engineer Konstantin Adolfovic Semendyayev ().
The scope is the concise discussion of all major fields of applied mathematics by definitions, tables and examples with a focus on practicability and with limited formal rigour. The work also contains a comprehensive list of analytically solvable integrals, that is, those integrals which can be described in closed form with antiderivatives.
History
With Dmitrii Abramovich Raikov, Bronshtein authored a Russian handbook on elementary mathematics, mechanics and physics (), which was published in 1943.
Around the same time in 1939/1940, Bronshtein, together with Semendyayev, also wrote their Russian handbook of mathematics for engineers and students of technical universities. Among other sources this work was influenced by the 1936 Russian translation of the 1931 edition of the much older German . Hot lead typesetting had already started when the Siege of Leningrad prohibited further development and the print matrices were relocated. After the war, they were considered lost, but could be found again years later, so that the first edition of could finally be published in 1945.
The expanded German translation (literally: "Pocketbook of mathematics") by Viktor Ziegler was first published in 1958 by B. G. Teubner in Leipzig. It was honoured as "" ("Most beautiful book") of the year 1958.
Based on the German translation, an English translation became available as well under the title A Guide-Book to Mathematics in 1964, first by Pergamon Press and The Macmillan Company, later by Springer Verlag and Verlag Harri Deutsch.
In 1966, it became apparent that the title needed considerable updates to meet new requirements. The original authors felt too old to continue the work and the Russian publisher Nauka () seemed to have had lost interest in the further development as well for some while. Therefore, in 1970, a consortium of East-German mathematicians were contracted by Teubner Verlag to start to expand and revise the work. This was coordinated by Viktor Ziegler, Dorothea Ziegler and Günter Grosche (University of Leipzig). While Semendyayev contributed some work, he did not want some other new chapters to be included in the manuscript in 1976, therefore they had to be split out into a new volume II. Finally, after almost a decade of work, the major new revision could be published in 1979, legally as a cooperation of Teubner and Nauka.
The reworked two-volume German edition was well received and again became a "standard" in higher mathematics education in Germany. This led to a string of high-volume revisions and translations into Russian, English and Japanese to meet the international demand. The English version was published by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company and Verlag Harri Deutsch as Handbook of Mathematics.
A decade later, the German '' and the later reunification led to considerable changes in the publishing environment in Germany between 1989 and 1991. The East-German publisher Teubner Leipzig was integrated into the West-German publisher Teubner Stuttgart. These changes put an end to the cooperation of the East-German Teubner Verlag with the West-German Verlag Harri Deutsch, who had been licensing this and other titles for distribution in Germany and Switzerland, a business model no longer working in a free market. Licensing issues caused the development to split into two independent branches by the two publishing houses:
Consequently, Verlag Harri Deutsch contracted and Heiner Mühlig to start afresh and translate the last non-Teubner influenced version (officially the latest revision (1977) of the third Russian edition (1953), which is actually the eleventh Russian edition (1967)) into German for a major rework of as a single-volume title. This was first published in 1992/1993. When Verlag Harri Deutsch closed its business two decades later, Europa-Lehrmittel took over in 2013. They continue to maintain this work up to the present (2020). The new English translation (now by Springer Verlag) is still called Handbook of Mathematics.
In a parallel development, Eberhard Zeidler, who had contributed to the Grosche and Ziegler editions already, became editor for the continuation of the latest existing German edition by Teubner (1990), the version which had previously also been distributed by Verlag Harri Deutsch, and updated it significantly to become the (literally: "Teubner pocketbook of mathematics") for Teubner. This was first published in 1995/1996 – still as a two-volume work. The work was continued by Vieweg+Teubner Verlag after the merger with in 2003. When Vieweg+Teubner was bought by Springer and renamed Springer Vieweg Verlag, several new chapters were added and some more advanced contents stripped out for the single-volume (literally: "Springer pocketbook of mathematics") in 2012/2013. This is now accompanied by a completely reworked and considerably expanded four-volume series named (literally: "Springer handbook of mathematics") by Zeidler also based on the former Bronshtein and Semendyayev. So far, this latest revision of the alternative development branch isn't available in English, but volume I of the former has been translated and published by Oxford University Press as Oxford Users' Guide to Mathematics already.
Editions
1945–1978: Bronshtein and Semendyayev editions
Russian editions (1945–1977, 1998–2009) Authors: Bronshtein, Ilya Nikolaevich (); Semendyayev, Konstantin Adolfovic ().
Nauka () Moscow : 1st edition, 1945 (556 pages, print run of 50,000): 2nd edition, 1948 (556 pages, print run of 83,000 units): 3rd revised edition, 1953 (chapter IV by () rewritten and chapters 8–10 added): 4th edition, 1954: (Gostekhizdat) 5th edition, 1955 6th edition, 1956 (ii+608 pages): 7th edition, 1957 (609 pages) 8th edition, 1959 9th edition, 1962, () (Fizmatgiz / ). 10th edition, 1964 (614 pages): (reprint 2013, paperback, Book on Demand Ltd.) 11th edition, 1967 (608 pages + 1 inlet, last Russian edition of this series, as Nauka published in a print run of 100,000 units a translation of Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers by Granino and Theresa M. Korn instead in 1968) 1977 (end of production?)
Nauka (Наука) / Fizmatlit (Физматлит) 15th edition, 1998 (608 pages, reprint of 11th edition 1967): Lan () : reprint edition (print run: 2000), 2009 (608 pages): (paperback) reprint edition, 2010-04-21 (608 pages):
German editions (1958–1978) Authors: Bronshtein, Ilya Nikolaevich; Semendyayev, Konstantin Adolfovic; Miller, Maximilian. Translator: Ziegler, Viktor.
BSB B. G. Teubner Verlagsgesellschaft : 1st expanded edition, 1958 (xii+548 pages + 1 inlet sheet, based on 4th or 6th Russian edition, ca. 1954, with a chapter by Miller added) 2nd edition, 1959 (xii+548 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 3rd further expanded edition, 1960 (xiii+584 pages + 1 inlet sheet, with another chapter by Miller added): 1st edition, 1961 (xiii+584 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 2nd edition, 1961 (xiii+584 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 2nd edition, 1962 (xiii+584 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 3rd edition, 1962 (xiii+584 pages): 4th edition, 1964 (xiii+584 pages): ? edition, 1965 (xiii+584 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 5th edition, 1965 (xiii+584 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 6th unchanged edition, 1st printing, 1963 (xiii+584 pages): (soft plastic cover) 6th edition, 2nd printing, 1965 (xiii+584 pages): (soft plastic cover) 6th edition, 1966 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet): (soft plastic cover) 6th edition, 1966 (xiii+584 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 7th reviewed and corrected edition, 1967 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 8th edition, 1967 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet): (soft plastic cover) 8th unchanged edition, 1967 (xiii+585 pages): (soft plastic cover) 8th edition, 1968 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 9th edition, 1969 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 10th edition, 1969 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet): (soft plastic cover) 10th edition, 1969 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet): (soft plastic cover) 10th edition, 1970 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet): 11th edition, 1971 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets): 12th edition, 1973 (xiii+585 pages + 1 inlet sheet) 12th edition, 1973 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets): 13th edition, 1973 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets): 14th edition, 1974 15th edition, 1975 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets) 15th edition, 1975 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets): 16th edition, 1976 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets) 16th edition, 1976 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets): 17th edition, 1977 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets): 17th edition, 1977 (xiii+585 pages + 2 inlet sheets): 18th edition, 1978 (xiii+585 pages)
Polish editions (1959–2019)
1959 (696 pages) (PWN), Warsaw: 1968 1973 1986 1996 1997 2004 PWN, Warsaw: 2010 2017 (856 pages): 2019 (856 pages)
Hungarian editions (1963–1987)
Translator: György, Bizám
Műszaki Könyvkiadó, Budapest: extended 2nd edition, 1963 (768 pages) 3rd edition, 1974 (768 pages): 4th edition, 1980 (768 pages): , 5th edition, 1982 (768 pages): 6th edition, 1987 (1190 pages):
French editions (1963–1990)
Translator: Lefort, Henri
, Paris: 1st edition, based on 8th Russian edition (935 pages + inlet ""), 1963 2nd edition, 1967 1976 9th edition, 1990 (935 pages)
Slovenian editions (1963–1994)
Translator:
, Ljubljana / : 1st edition, 1st printing, 1963 (2+699 pages+corrigenda): 1st reprint, 1967 (699 pages+corrigenda): 2nd reprint, 1970 (700 pages+corrigenda): 3rd reprint, 1972 (700 pages+corrigenda): , Ljubljana : 4th reprint, 1975 (pre+699 pages+corrigenda): 5th reprint, 1978 (2+699 pages): 6th reprint, 1980 (2+699 pages): 7th reprint 8th reprint, 1984 (pre+699 pages): 9th reprint, 1987 (pre+699 pages): 10th reprint, 1988 (pre+699 pages): , (book) , Ljubljana / : 11th reprint, 1990 (2+699 pages): , (book) 12th reprint, 1992 (2+699 pages):, (book) 13th reprint, 1994 (2+699 pages): , (book)
Yugoslav (Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian language) editions (1964–1975) Editor: Blanuša, Danilo. Translators: Vistrička, Zvonko; Uremović, Ivan
, Zagreb : 1st edition, 1964 (695 pages, based on 9th Russian edition, 1962) 1975 (696 pages)
English editions (1964–1973, 2013)