MathFiction: Ghost Days (Ken Liu)

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Ghost Days (2013)

Ken Liu
(click on names to see more mathematical fiction by the same author)
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This short story begins with a very short computer program that computes the Fibonacci numbers which a young student is learning in school. The teacher is one of the human crew of a space ship and the student is a genetically engineered child that the humans created to be able to survive on the planet where they were marooned. When the child asks why she has to learn about ancient Earth computer languages like LISP, the teacher again refers to the Fibonacci sequence to explain why the child would need to know her own past:

(quoted from Ghost Days)

"To compute the n-th term, the recessive function calls itself to compute the (n-1)th term and the (n-2)th term, so that they could be added together, each time going back earlier in the sequence, solving earlier versions of the same problem...

"The past," Ms. Coron continued, "thus accumulating bit by bit through recursion, becomes the future."

This metaphor is the only mathematical content of this work of mathematical fiction, but it is of fundamental importance as the rest of the story goes on to trace back the history of a small metal object that the child possesses and the reader sees its previous owners "solving earlier versions of the same problem" as they question their lives as Asian-Americans.

This story originally appeared in Lightspeed in October 2013 and more recently republished in the Ken Liu anthology The Hidden Girl and Other Stories.

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 Ghost Days

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

The Hidden Girl by Ken Liu
The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
The Story of Yung Chang by Ernest Bramah (Ernest Bramah Smith)
Oracle by Greg Egan
The Pacific Mystery by Stephen Baxter
Cap and Gown by Eric Flint
Instantiation by Greg Egan
Newton's Gift by Paul J. Nahin
Music of the Spheres by Ken Liu
Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer by Ken Liu

Ratings for Ghost Days:

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:
1/5 (1 votes)

Literary Quality:
4/5 (1 votes)

Categories:

Genre	Historical Fiction, Science Fiction,
Motif
Topic	Computers/Cryptography, Algebra/Arithmetic/Number Theory,
Medium	Short Stories, Available Free Online,

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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)