_cover.jpg) | |
| Discipline | Experimental mathematics |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Edited by | Alexander Kasprzyk |
| Publication details | |
| History | 1992–present |
| Publisher | |
| Frequency | quarterly |
| 0.659 (2019) | |
| Standard abbreviations ISO 4 (alt) · Bluebook (alt) NLM (alt) · MathSciNet (alt  ) | |
| ISO 4 | Exp. Math. |
| Indexing CODEN (alt · alt2) · JSTOR (alt) · LCCN (alt) MIAR · NLM (alt) · Scopus · W&L | |
| ISSN | 1058-6458 (print) 1944-950X (web) |
| LCCN | 2003242218 |
| OCLC no. | 24346305 |
| Links | |
Experimental Mathematics is a quarterlyscientific journal ofmathematics published byA K Peters, Ltd. until 2010, now byTaylor & Francis. The journal publishes papers inexperimental mathematics, broadly construed. The journal's mission statement describes its scope as follows: "Experimental Mathematics publishes original papers featuring formal results inspired by experimentation, conjectures suggested by experiments, and data supporting significant hypotheses."[1] Itseditor-in-chief is Alexander Kasprzyk (University of Nottingham).
Experimental Mathematics was established in 1992 byDavid Epstein, Silvio Levy, and Klaus Peters.[2]Experimental Mathematics was the first mathematical research journal to concentrate onexperimental mathematics and to explicitly acknowledge its importance formathematics as a general research field. The journal's launching was described as "something of a watershed".[3] Indeed, the launching of the journal in 1992 was surrounded by some controversy in the mathematical community about the value and validity of experimentation in mathematical research.[3][4] Some critics of the new journal suggested that it be renamed as the "Journal of Unproved Theorems".[5][6] In a 1995 article in theNotices of the American Mathematical Society, in part responding to such criticism, Epstein and Levy described the journal's aims as follows:[7]
But the main difference reflects the philosophy above: we are interested not only in theorems and proofs but also in the way in which they have been or can be reached. Note that we do value proofs: experimentally inspired results that can be proved are more desirable than conjectural ones. However, we do publish significant conjectures or explorations in the hope of inspiring other, perhaps better-equipped researchers to carry on the investigation. The objective of Experimental Mathematics is to play a role in the discovery of formal proofs, not to displace them.
Despite the initial controversy,Experimental Mathematics quickly established a solid reputation and is now a highly respected mathematical publication. The journal is reviewed cover-to-cover inMathematical Reviews andZentralblatt MATH and is indexed in theWeb of Science.