a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)
a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)
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| Highly Rated! |
| A friend of mine once told me that he believes that mathematicians invented intentionally confusing notations to keep others from understanding what they were saying. I'm sure this is not true. We mathematicians do our best to make our subject understandable, though like any techical subject, this requires so much new terminology and notation that it may look unintelligible to the uninitiated.
Nevertheless, in this short story, a kidnapped mathematician is able to take advantage of this aspect of mathematical notation to send a secret message to his colleagues. The message is supposedly the statement of a theorem which he proved. However, it makes no sense mathematically. Then, another professor realizes that the message is not in the mathematical content, but in the notation itself. This story appears in the collection Reality Conditions .
(Thanks!) |
| 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.) |
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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)
