I personally prefer physical books. A textbook is easy to pick up and look through, even if it takes up more space and is less convenient than opening an ebook on a phone.
I do own a Kindle, and I love it. Still, there are some books I want within reach on a real bookshelf. That is why I purchased and kept the sixth edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics by Richard Earl and James Nicholson.
A useful study companion
This comprehensive dictionary is useful both during formal study and whenever curiosity sends me looking for a quick explanation. It is convenient without feeling shallow.
The entries provide definitions supported by graphs and formulae, alongside short biographies of famous mathematicians and the contributions they made. That combination turns it into more than a vocabulary list: it also offers small paths into mathematical history and context.
- Definitions
- Graphs
- Mathematical formulae
- Mathematician biographies
An appendix with surprising range
The appendix is particularly useful. It moves from foundational material such as areas, volumes, and basic algebra to probability distributions and the Millennium Prize Problems.
That breadth makes the dictionary helpful at different moments: checking a familiar formula, refreshing a forgotten definition, or following an unfamiliar idea far enough to know what to study next.