MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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The Devil a Mathematician Would Be (1962)
A.J. Lohwater
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Note: This work of mathematical fiction is recommended by Alex for math majors, math grad students (and maybe even math professors).

This clever short story that captures the feeling of a math problem that "gets under your skin" was printed in The Mathematical Magpie and was said to have been "collected" by A.J. Lohwater. Well, I finally did a little bit of looking around to see who this Lohwater was and was surprised to find that he was not a writer, but a mathematician and editor of the Mathematical Reviews at about the same time that this story was first printed.

Can anyone out there fill me in on how this came to be? Did he write the story? Did he just put down on paper a joke that had been going around in mathematical circles? How does it relate to the story The Devil and Simon Flagg which was published much earlier and has basically the same plot?

More information about this work can be found at another page on this Website.
(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 The Devil a Mathematician Would Be
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. The Devil and Simon Flagg by Arthur Porges
  2. Prost, der Faust-Tragödie (-n)ter Teil [Prost: the (-n)th Part of the Faust Tragedy] by Kurd Lasswitz
  3. Damned Souls and Statistics by Robert Dawson
  4. The Rose Acacia by Ralph P. Boas, Jr.
  5. Hell of a Fix by Matthew Hughes
  6. I of Newton by Joe Haldeman
  7. Geometria by Guillermo del Toro (Writer and Director)
  8. Professor Eubanks in Zetaland by Richard Stanley
  9. The Root and the Ring by Wyman Guin
  10. Matrices by Steven Nightingale
Ratings for The Devil a Mathematician Would Be:
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:
4/5 (1 votes)
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Literary Quality:
2/5 (1 votes)
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Categories:
GenreHumorous, Fantasy,
Motif
TopicAlgebra/Arithmetic/Number Theory,
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)