This ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF MATHEMATICS aims to be a reference work for all
parts of mathema- tics. It is a translation with updates and editorial
comments of the Soviet Mathematical Encyclo- paedia published by 'Soviet
Encyclopaedia Publishing House' in five volumes in 1977 - 1985. The
annotated translation consists of ten volumes including a special index
volume. There are three kinds of articles in this ENCYCLOPAEDIA. First
of all there are survey-type articles dealing with the various main
directions in mathematics (where a rather fine subdivision has been
used). The main requirement for these articles has been that they should
give a reason- ably complete up-to-date account of the current state of
affairs in these areas and that they should be maximally accessible. On
the whole, these articles should be understandable to mathematics
students in their first specialization years, to graduates from other
mathematical areas and, depending on the specific subject, to
specialists in other domains of science, en- gineers and teachers of
mathematics. These articles treat their material at a fairly general
level and aim to give an idea of the kind of problems, techniques and
concepts involved in the area in question. They also contain background
and motivation rather than precise statements of pre- cise theorems with
detailed definitions and technical details on how to carry out proofs
and con- structions.
