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The Mathematica Book is one of the most unique examples of software documentation in existence. Highly honored for its depth, presentation, and organization, it is a model for all technical manuals. First written in 1988 as a 750-page companion tutorial to the newly created Mathematica software system, the most recent English edition, the fifth, consisted of 1,488 pages. There have been a total of 13 unique print editions—including modifications such as The Student Book and The Reference Guide, as well as meticulous translations into German, French, and Japanese.

In 1998, The Mathematica Book was once again transformed: A complete version with all of the printed book’s content was created for the web to provide full access to its encyclopedic knowledge base and make it easy to search and browse. By 2007, the documentation for Mathematica had expanded beyond the bounds of print, with a total of more than 10,000 pages. As a result, the book became solely part of the online Wolfram Mathematica Documentation Center, which also serves as the repository for full-text legacy versions of the book. The Documentation Center’s fundamental material was based on Stephen Wolfram’s The Mathematica Book, and Stephen Wolfram continues to be responsible for the core reference documentation for Mathematica.

Bibliographic History of The Mathematica Book

1988

Mathematica: A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer, First Edition
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN 0-201-19334-5 (hardcover/767 pages)
ISBN 0-201-19330-2 (paperback/767 pages)

1991

Mathematica: A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer, Second Edition
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN 0-201-51502-4 (hardcover/992 pages)
ISBN 0-201-51507-5 (paperback/992 pages)

1992

Mathematica Reference Guide
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN 0-201-51012-X (paperback/317 pages)

Mathematica: A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer, Second Edition, 日本語版 (in Japanese)
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN 4-7952-9614-6 (hardcover/963 pages)

Mathematica: Ein System für Mathematik auf dem Computer, Zweite Auflage (in German)
Addison-Wesley Verlag (Deutschland) GmbH
ISBN 3-89319-371-5 (hardcover/1019 pages)

1994

Mathematica: The Student Book (abridged version for students)
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN 0-201-55479-8 (paperback/521 pages)

1995

Mathematica: Le système informatique pour les mathématiques, Deuxième édition (in French)
Addison-Wesley France
ISBN 2-87908-035-5 (paperback/1042 pages)

1996

The Mathematica Book, Third Edition
Wolfram Media/Cambridge University Press
ISBN 0-9650532-0-2 / 0-521-58889-8 (hardcover/1427 pages)
ISBN 0-9650532-1-0 / 0-521-58888-X (paperback/1427 pages)

1997

Mathematica: Le livre, Troisième édition (in French)
International Thomson Publishing Company, France
ISBN 2-84180-137-3 (hardcover/1525 pages)

Das Mathematica Buch, 3. Auflage (in German)
Addison-Wesley Longman Verlag GmbH
ISBN 3-8273-1036-9 (hardcover/1525 pages)

Mathematica ブック, 第3版 (in Japanese)
Toppan Company
ISBN 4-8101-8963-5 (hardcover/1416 pages)

1999

The Mathematica Book, Fourth Edition
Wolfram Media/Cambridge University Press
ISBN 1-57955-004-5 / 0-521-64314-7 (hardcover/1496 pages)

Mathematica ブック, 第4版 (in Japanese)
Tokyo Shoseki
ISBN 4-487-79578-8 (hardcover/1469 pages)

2002

Mathematica 全书, 第4版 (in Chinese)
Xi’an Jiaotong University Press
ISBN 7-5605-1544-4 (hardcover/626 pages)

2003

The Mathematica Book, Fifth Edition
Wolfram Media
ISBN 1-57955-022-3 (hardcover/1488 pages)

Mathematica ブック, 第5版 (in Japanese)
Wolfram Media
ISBN 1-57955-023-1 (hardcover/1448 pages)