MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Pure Math (1992)
John Timson
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Contributed by Vijay Fafat

A mildly funny and fairly predictable time travel story involving a stand-alone time loop created by information sent back in time. Jacob Appel is a “Nobel Laureate and the man acknowledged by nearly everyone as the world’s greatest living mathematician”, one who creates “a mathematical proof that it was possible, in pure maths at least, to send non-living objects back in time.”. He sends this proof as a paper, "A Mathematical Exposition of the Possibility of Small Scale Time Travel into the Past", to a journal, from where, through some unscrupulous behaviour by a couple of editors lands the paper in the past (from 2005 to 1926) with one Mr. Geoffrey Meadowcraft, who publishes it as a “famous paper” titled “A Mathematical Proof of the Possibility of Time Travel” in the journal, “Theoretical Physics and Unusual Mathematics”. The Meadowcroft Equations are used in 2005 by Jacob Appel to invent “forward time travel”, after which, “The world was never the same again.”.

Pulished in the Jan/Feb 1992 issue of "Far Point".

(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 Pure Math
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. The Writing on the Wall by Steve Stanton
  2. Ylem by Eliot Fintushel
  3. Gödel geht [Gödel's Exit] by Andreas Findig
  4. Luminous by Greg Egan
  5. Planck Zero by Stephen Baxter
  6. Feigenbaum Number by Nancy Kress
  7. Dark Integers by Greg Egan
  8. The Exception by Alex Kasman
  9. Glory by Greg Egan
  10. Drode's Equations by Richard Grant
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Categories:
GenreScience Fiction,
MotifProving Theorems, Time Travel,
TopicFictional Mathematics,
MediumShort 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)