search tool

[Michael Somos]

Christian Bower wrote :

> There's an article in the latest American Mathematical Monthly (Vol 106,
> No 10, Dec 1999) that mentions the EIS.
...
>   the Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences provides a way to search the
> 'knowledge database' that is keyed on the examples, or the concrete
> results, of papers--not the jargon. This, if you like, is a new kind of
> search tool.

Regarding that recent article in AMM ( which I have not read yet ),
I also agree that this is a great idea. By tabulating integer
sequences, which can be looked up by the numbers themselves, you
can avoid having to know special terminology or keywords. In fact,
in the sequence entry itself, the terminology or keywords as well
as references to published literature can be found. This is sort
of like a reverse dictionary, where you know a partial definition
but don't know the word that corresponds. Furthermore, by having
hypertext links you can get further information about some of the
sequences right away. A very valuable tool like other search engines
on the web. We are truly fortunate that it is available and maintained.
Shalom, Michael