MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Crash Course in Romance (2023)
Je Won Yu (director) / Hee-Seung Yang (writer)
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A grocery store owner and a "celebrity" math teacher fall in love in this South Korean TV series. Each episode’s title is mathematical, and we get to see Choi Chi-yeol being treated like a rock star for teaching math. Other than that, it really is a romance and not particularly about math.

It probably is true that math teachers in South Korea get more respect (and perhaps even fame) than they do in my country (the USA). However, I am guessing that Chi-yeol’s celebrity status in this show is exaggerated for the sake of humor. (E.g. His face is seen throughout the city on billboards, he appears in TV commercials that make him look like an action hero, and his female students literally swoon over him.)

Chi-Yeol also is suffering from malnutrition because he cannot tolerate most food. At first, he and grocery store owner Nam Haeng-seon form a practical relationship based on the coincidence that he thrives on the prepared dishes that she sells at her store and that her daughter desperately wants to be one of his students. But, it soon blossoms into a romance. That causes a public scandal because it is seen as an illicit affair between a teacher and one of his students' mothers. But then the public realizes that Haeng-seon is not really the girl's biological mother, but is actually only her aunt who adopted her and her "Aspie" brother. Apparently, that makes everything okay! (After that, the series takes a more serious turn when the daughter is left in a coma as the victim of a hit-and-run, which may not even have been an accident.)

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 Crash Course in Romance
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Fermat's Cuisine [Fermat no Ryori] by Yugo Kobayashi
  2. Midnight Diner (Episode: Omelette Rice) by Joji Matsuoka (Director) / Marina Oshima (Screenplay)
  3. Principles of Emotion by Sara Read
  4. The Love Formula by Giulia Clerici / Giulia Pasqualini
  5. The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss by Amy Noelle Parks
  6. Love Letters for Other People by Shaylin Gandhi
  7. Proof Geometric Construction Can Solve All Love Affairs by Takahashi Manbou (lyricist) / Ane Manbou (illustrator)
  8. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
  9. Wish I Were Here by Melissa Wiesner
  10. A Season of Flirtation by Julia Justiss
Ratings for Crash Course in Romance:
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(unrated)

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Categories:
GenreRomance,
MotifCool/Heroic Mathematicians, Autism, Romance, Math Education,
Topic
MediumTelevision Series or Episode,

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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)