Since its first publication in 1943, it was considerably expanded and it soon became a "classic" and highly regarded reference for mathematicians, scientists and engineers. After the deaths of the original authors, the work was maintained and further expanded by other editors.
At some stage a German and English dual-language translation became available, followed by Polish, English-only and Japanese versions. After several further editions, the Russian and German-English versions went out of print and have not been updated after the fall of the Iron Curtain, but the English version is still being actively maintained and refined by new editors, and it has recently been retranslated back into Russian as well.
One of the valuable characteristics of Gradshteyn and Ryzhik compared to similar compilations is that most listed integrals are referenced. The literature list contains 92 main entries and 140 additional entries (in the eighth English edition). The integrals are classified by numbers, which haven't changed from the fourth Russian up to the seventh English edition (the numbering in older editions as well as in the eighth English edition is not fully compatible).
The book does not only contain the integrals, but also lists additional properties and related special functions.
It also includes tables for integral transforms.
Another advantage of Gradshteyn and Ryzhik compared to computer algebra systems is the fact that all special functions and constants used in the evaluation of the integrals are listed in a registry as well, thereby allowing reverse lookup of integrals based on special functions or constants.
On the downsides, Gradshteyn and Ryzhik has become known to contain a relatively high number of typographical errors even in newer editions, which has repeatedly led to the publication of extensive errata lists. Earlier English editions were also criticized for their poor translation of mathematical terms[1][2][3] and mediocre print quality.[1][2][4][5]
The first edition, which contained about 5 000 formulas,[10][11][nb 3] was authored by Ryzhik,[nb 1] who had already published a book on special functions in 1936[6][12] and died during World War II around 1941.[6] Not announcing this fact, his compilation was published posthumously[6][nb 1] in 1943, followed by a second corrected edition in his name in 1948.[nb 4]
In 1963, it was followed by the second edition, a reprint edition with a four-page inlet listing corrections compiled by Eldon Robert Hansen.
Derived from the 1963 edition, but considerably expanded and split into two volumes, the third German-English edition by Ludwig Boll[nb 10] was finally published by MIR Moscow in 1981 (with permission of DVW and distributed through Verlag Harri Deutsch in the Western world); it incorporated the material of the fifth Russian edition (1971) as well.[nb 11]
Pending this third German-English edition an English-only edition by Alan Jeffrey[nb 12] was published in 1965. Lacking a clear designation by itself it was variously known as first, third or fourth English edition, as it was based on the then-current fourth Russian edition. The formulas were photographically reproduced and the text translated. This still held true for the expanded fourth English edition in 1980, which added chapters 10 to 17.[17]
Both of these editions saw multiple print runs each incorporating newly found corrections. Starting with the third printing, updated table entries were marked by adding a small superscript number to the entry number indicating the corresponding print run ("3" etc.), a convention carried over into later editions by continuing to increase the superscript number as kind of a revision number (no longer directly corresponding with actual print runs).
The fifth edition (1994), which contained close to 20 000 formulas,[18][nb 3] was electronically reset[3] in preparation for a CD-ROM issue of the fifth edition (1996) and in anticipation of further editions. Since the sixth edition (2000), now corresponding with superscript number "10", Daniel Zwillinger[nb 13] started contributing as well. The last edition being edited by Jeffrey before his death[nb 12] was the seventh English edition published in 2007 (with superscript number "11").[19] This edition has been retranslated back into Russian as "seventh Russian edition" in 2011.[20][nb 11]
For the eighth edition (2014/2015, with superscript number "12") Zwillinger took over the role of the editor. He was assisted by Victor Hugo Moll.[21][nb 14] In order to make room for additional information without increasing the size of the book significantly, the former chapters 11 (on algebraic inequalities), chapters 13 to 16 (on matrices and related results, determinants, norms, ordinary differential equations) and chapter 18 (on z-transforms) worth about 50 pages in total were removed and some chapters renumbered (12 to 11, 17 to 12). This edition contains more than 10 000 entries.[21][nb 3]
In 1995, Alan Jeffrey published his Handbook of Mathematical Formulas and Integrals.[22]
It was partially based on the fifth English edition of Gradshteyn and Ryzhik's Table of Integrals, Series, and Products and meant as an companion, but written to be more accessible for students and practitioners.[22] It went through four editions up to 2008.[22][23][24][25] The fourth edition also took advantage of changes incorporated into the seventh English edition of Gradshteyn and Ryzhik.[25]
Inspired by a 1988 paper in which Шаблон:Ill proved several integrals in Gradshteyn and Ryzhik,[26] Victor Hugo Moll with George Boros started a project to prove all integrals listed in Gradshteyn and Ryzhik and add additional commentary and references.[27] In the foreword of the book Irresistible Integrals (2004), they wrote:[28]Шаблон:Blockquote
Nevertheless, the efforts have meanwhile resulted in about 900 entries from Gradshteyn and Ryzhik discussed in a series of more than 30 articles[29][30][31] of which papers 1 to 28Шаблон:Efn have been published in issues 14 to 26 of Scientia, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (UTFSM), between 2007 and 2015[32] and compiled into a two-volume book series Special Integrals of Gradshteyn and Ryzhik: the Proofs (2014–2015) already.[33][34]
