MathFiction: I Had to Call In a Mathematician (Erik Talvila)

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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I Had to Call In a Mathematician (2019)

Erik Talvila
(click on names to see more mathematical fiction by the same author)
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This short story published in the Mathematical Intelligencer answers the age old question "What if math was more like plumbing?"

(quoted from I Had to Call In a Mathematician)

“Hi Janice. It's Mort. I've got another problem here and I've had to call in a mathematician. I'm stuck at home until she's done.”

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The mathematician came over with a sheet of paper.

“It looks like someone was trying to use a contraction mapping here. That won't work unless the target space is compact.”

“Oh, ah, I wonder how that got in there. One of the kids, maybe.” She rolled her eyes like I was an idiot.

“I'm not sure if this space is separable. Where did you get it?”

Thanks to Allan Goldberg for noticing this very funny story.

BTW If you're a fan of Erik Talvila's brand of humorous mathematical fiction, check out his self-published novel Topology of Sexy Shoes.

More information about this work can be found at link.springer.com.
(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.)

Works Similar to I Had to Call In a Mathematician

According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:

Folk Music Festivals and Mathematics Conferences by Erik Talvila
Integration Bar by Erik Talvila
The Gangs of New Math by Robert W. Vallin
Incomplete Proofs by John Chu
The Integral: A Horror Story by Colin Adams
Mathematically Bent by Colin Adams
A Deprogrammer's Tale by Colin Adams
The Legend of Howard Thrush by Alex Kasman
A Killer Theorem by Colin Adams
The Adventures of Topology Man by Alex Kasman

Ratings for I Had to Call In a Mathematician:

Ratings

Have you seen/read this work of mathematical fiction? Then click here to enter your own votes on its mathematical content and literary quality or send me comments to post on this Webpage.

Mathematical Content:
5/5 (1 votes)

Literary Quality:
2/5 (1 votes)

Categories:

Genre	Humorous,
Motif
Topic	Analysis/Calculus/Differential,
Medium	Short Stories,

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Where are the new works of mathematical fiction?: As you can see from this chronological listing, this database includes many works of mathematical fiction for each year from 1990 to 2025. Strangely, only two are listed for 2026, so far. Either less mathematical fiction is being published than in previous years or I'm just having more trouble finding it. If you know of any works of fiction that should be added to this list, especially recently published ones, please let me know. (Keep in mind that I do not include self-published works or children's fiction that just covers elementary mathematical concepts.) Thanks!

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)