MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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The Hyland Resolution (2020)
Justin Tarquin
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Charles Hyland is the sort of math professor who can be totally distracted by a mathematical question while he and several academic colleagues are under attack by an enemy army on the moon. (Specifically, he is wondering whether Latin squares of order six form a single equivalence class under rotations of intercalary squares.) This science fictional scenario provides the author an opportunity to explore the innermost desires of a stereotypical mathematician.

In attempting to escape, the team of professors (along with the captain of the vessel they were in) stumble upon an ancient spacecraft and the mummified remains of its alien crew.

Hyland is able to connect to the ship telepathically. However, rather than being able to control the alien vessel as they had hoped, he becomes lost in a virtual reality based on his own fantasies. The others try to lure him out of it, but he is too captivated by the dream world in which he has found the secret of eternal youth and is lauded for his research.

Among the mathematical ideas discussed in this story are the smallest number that can be expressed as a sum of three fourth powers in two different ways, the question of whether ππ is transcendental, and the difference between a homomorphism and a homeomorphism. But the main idea, according to the author (see here) is the way that the others are eventually able to use Hyland's interest in math and his habit of consulting a computer named "Thoth" for assistance with computations to convince him that he is not a celebrity mathematician being interviewed for his adoring fans as he imagines but rather is still strapped in a chair in the alien spacecraft.

This story was published in the Planetary Anthology Series: Luna edited by Declan Finn.

More information about this work can be found at www.amazon.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 The Hyland Resolution
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Quaternia by Tom Petsinis
  2. The Devil and Simon Flagg by Arthur Porges
  3. The Humans: A Novel by Matt Haig
  4. Proof by Induction by José Pablo Iriarte
  5. The Second Moon by Russell R. Winterbotham
  6. Axiom of Dreams by Arula Ratnakar
  7. Emmy's Time by Anthony Bonato
  8. The Pythagoras Problem by Trevor Baxendale
  9. Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds
  10. Exordia by Seth Dickson
Ratings for The Hyland Resolution:
RatingsHave 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:
4/5 (1 votes)
..
Literary Quality:
3/5 (1 votes)
..

Categories:
GenreScience Fiction,
MotifAcademia, Aliens,
TopicAlgebra/Arithmetic/Number Theory,
MediumShort Stories,

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Exciting News: The 1,600th entry was recently added to this database of mathematical fiction! Also, for those of you interested in non-fictional math books let me (shamelessly) plug the recent release of the second edition of my soliton theory textbook.

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)