MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Law and Order: Criminal Intent (Episode: Inert Dwarf) (2004)
Renee Balcer (story) / Warren Leight (script) / Alex Chapple (director)
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The collaborator of a world-famous, wheelchair bound mathematical physicist is murdered. When the detectives investigate, suspicion falls on the mathematician's wife/nurse who appears to be abusing him.

Like most episodes of this show, it is obvious that it is based upon real people and current events. In this case, the mathematical genius is clearly supposed to be Stephen Hawking. (In case that is not already clear, Detective Goren at one point tells us that, "like everyone else", he "tried" to read the man's book.) And, the event which inspired it is this true story which was in the news at the time. Consequently, despite a disclaimer assuring the viewer it is entirely fictional, I consider this script to be slanderous and unfair to Hawking. (To see why, either watch the episode, or spare yourself and just read my 'spoiler' below.)

Spoiler Alert: It turns out that the Hawking-like character murdered his own partner in order to cover up the flaws in their "Theory of Everything". He also faked his own injuries so as to frame his second wife for the murder and generate enough pity to win back his first wife and daughter. Not only that, we learn that he isn't even as disabled as he pretends to be. (Detectives Eames and Goren trick him into revealing that he can stand up to reach an incriminating notebook they left on the top shelf of a bookcase.)

In a closing remark, Eames says something like "My mother always told me to be glad I'm not a genius...it makes for a very lonely life."

More information about this work can be found at www.imdb.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 Law and Order: Criminal Intent (Episode: Inert Dwarf)
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Lewis (Episode: Reputation) by Russell Lewis (Story) / Stephen Churchett (Screenplay)
  2. Elementary (Episode: Solve for X) by Jerry Levine (director) / Jeffrey Paul King (screenplay)
  3. Furuhata Ninzaburô (Episode 13) by Kôki Mitani
  4. The Mentalist (Episode: 18-5-4) by Bruno Heller (writer) / Leonard Dick (writer) / Charles Beeson (director)
  5. Murder by Mathematics by Hector Hawton
  6. NUMB3RS by Nick Falacci / Cheryl Heuton
  7. The Three Body Problem by Catherine Shaw
  8. Case of Lies by Perri O\'Shaughnessy
  9. Murder, She Conjectured by Alex Kasman
  10. The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez
Ratings for Law and Order: Criminal Intent (Episode: Inert Dwarf):
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:
1/5 (1 votes)
..
Literary Quality:
2/5 (1 votes)
..

Categories:
GenreMystery,
MotifGenius, Evil mathematicians, Proving Theorems,
TopicMathematical Physics,
MediumTelevision Series or Episode,

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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)