Want to find a book about Cutter numbers, specifically why they exist and mathematical properties

Hi!

This would be a book about libraries, most probably, but might be a mathematics book.

A table like this (https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/053/table.html) is just an algorithm explaining how to generate a Cutter number, so it is no use to me.

Any of the references or the books linked in Notes in the Wikipedia article maybe? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutter_Expansive_Classification

If that does not help, we have a group for this kind of questions: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23175/Book-Recommendations-Requests so you may want to post there :)

>2 AnnieMod: Thanks. The Wikipedia article is equivalent to the LoC table in its uselessness for me. I'll try the group you recommended.

This group has been inactive for 4 years, but members are still around.

Try posting in this group:

https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/148/Mathematics

I'm confused about your "specifically why they exist" phrase. The Wikipedia article specifically says about Cutter Numbers: "It is an alphanumeric device to code text so that it can be arranged in alphabetical order using the fewest characters." Ta da. That's why Cutters exist. Then along came Kate Sanborn who modified the original Cutter table. And now edits to Cutter-Sanborn are managed by SACO, I think.

Did you read G63 from the Classification and Shelflisting Manual? https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeCSM/freecsm.html not that it's going into any depth; but it give a brief background. There are several other chapters on Cutters on the site.

Have you looked at the Forbes Library page (https://forbeslibrary.org/research/cutter-classification/) on Cutter Numbers? There's a link to Expansive Classification: Part I: The First Six Classifications; but Internet Archive is down right now after the DDOS attack. Google Books has the title: https://books.google.com/books?id=L10oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=...

There are a number of articles covering Cutter Numbers:

Savic, D. (1996). CUTT-x: An Expert System for Automatic Assignment of Cutter Numbers. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 22(2), 71–87. https://doi.org/10.1300/J104v22n02_06

Zhao, L. (2004). Save Space for “Newcomers”-Analyzing Problems in Book Number Assignment Under the LCC System. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 38(1), 105–119. https://doi.org/10.1300/J104v38n01_09

EL-SHERBINI, M., & STALKER, J. C. (1996). A study of cutter number adjustment at the Ohio State University Libraries. Library Resources & Technical Services, 40(4), 319–326. https://doi.org/10.5860/lrts.40n4.319

Lots of Charles Cutter in his own words: https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Charles+Ammi+C...

Interesting presentation with some background on Cutter Numbers: https://www.scribd.com/document/454199700/20180221-Cutter-Numbers-and-Shelflisti...

This is interesting to a non-librarian. Glad to know that it isn't related to teenage cutters.

From the wikipedia article:
"his work on the seventh was interrupted by his death in 1903"

Interrupted? For how long? Aaaaaah!

>6 MrAndrew: it should have read "his death in 1903 cut short his work on the seventh."