In the kingdom of K where math is used to assign careers to children before they can even walk, generations of "Kalculators" are given the job of running the Perimetros machine which computes sequential digits of the number π and prints them on metal slabs.
| (quoted from The Unending Constant)
In the Kingdom of K, on the Planet Pemdas, numbers were more important than
people. As far back as anyone could remember, it had been this way. By the time a
child took its first steps, its aptitude matrices would have been recorded, compiled,
and reported every month to the Department of Numerology.
|
| (quoted from The Unending Constant)
Every citizen of K knew what numbers were; it was the sequence and pattern of
numbers that led to all knowledge and understanding. Karl lifted the tablet and saw
an enormous string of numbers beginning with:
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937. . .
The King applauded, and was joined shortly by a flurry of sycophantic applause from
outside the tent. His parents joined in while Karl scrutinized the numbers that had
been stamped into the tablet. “What is this?” he asked warily.
“That,” whispered the King, “is your destiny.” Before the king decamped, he passed
a bejeweled hand across an engraving atop the machine: To bear the light of knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment against the dark unknown, whatever the cost.
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In addition to implicating mathematics in this dystopian future, this story is attempting to convey the concept of infinity in relatable human terms. It therefore focuses on the endless nature of the task and the unpleasant lives of those who are forced to endure it. As the author explains in an afterword:
| Contributed by
Christopher Banyas
I first encountered pi when a teacher explained that, for fun, there were
people out there who memorized numbers in a specific sequence. An unending sequence of
numbers. For fun. An unending constant in my own life has been the pull toward words
rather than numbers. I struggled through that class as I still sometimes struggle with
mathematics. But the magic was in the story, as it so often is, and that magic captivated
me. Here was something tangible, well, more tangible, I felt, than the other equations I
would scratch out, hand in, and receive back each week.
What was the story behind the number itself? Alone, the concept of infinity is easily
brushed off; discounted and laughed away. But attach something tangibly human to it and
the pathways of the mind recoil and respond. Try as we might, seeing the end of pi is not in
the cards for humanity (thus far anyway). And we should celebrate that! It contextualizes
everything, but chiefly, the ephemeral nature of a human life. A dinner conversation with a
good friend, Todd Freed, led to the question: what might it look like to calculate infinity?
Thanks to him for planting the seed
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By portraying the human cost to the unachievable goal of printing out "all" of the digits of an irrational number, the author succeeds in giving the reader an emotional attachment to the concept of infinity. However, I fear that this depressing story may also give a misimpression of what it is like for those of us who voluntarily work with numbers and the infinite on a daily basis. FWIW Unlike the characters in the story for whom infinity is an eternal chore, to me it is a useful and amazing tool which lets me quickly find answers to questions that would otherwise be impossible to solve and discover truths that would otherwise be unknown. In my research on the KP Hierarchy I get to work with an infinite-dimensional Grassmannian (a beautiful geometric object) and infinitely-many time variables (which together feel a bit like the multi-verse of the MCU). I have great sympathy for Troiden, DOG, and Lucretia -- the very relatable and well-written characters toiling away at the Perimetros machine -- but want to explain to them that there is much more to math than this pointless and impossible task they were given.
This story was published in
The Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, 15 Issue 2 (July 2025), pages 388-401. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.NNBP7964. Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol15/iss2/27 |
