a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)
a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)
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| A promising young mathematician winds up in debt and in trouble with the Russian mob when his formula fails to successfully predict the winners of horse races as expected.
Some people view this movie as a commentary on the personality of the main character. He is conceited and overconfident, which are common traits in stereotypical fictional mathematicians. That makes this a sort of tragedy where this "fatal flaw" prevents the mathematician from achieving his potential. Alternatively, some see this movie, which is set in the 1980s, as a commentary on the corruption of the Soviet Union. In that interpretation, idealism is represented by the formula which would work in a perfect world, but not in reality where the outcomes of the races are determined by the mob. Apparently, the movie is based on a play by the same writer, but I wasn't able to find much information about it. I am grateful to Rob Milson who suggested this movie to me during his 2026 visit to Charleston during which we collaborated on our research. |
| 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.) |
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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)
