MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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The Name of the Rose (1980)
Umberto Eco
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A mystery novel which takes place in a 14th Century monastery by the brilliant Italian author, Umberto Eco. This book only has a small amount of math in it, but I frequently receive recommendations to include it on the list of mathematical fiction. The following description from Mike Melvin convinced me that it was worth adding:

Contributed by Michael Melvin

THE NAME OF THE ROSE has interesting passages from William of Baskerville, who muses that mathematics was the key to understanding how God made the world, if not the labyrinth he and Adso are navigating. If you'll remember, he and Adso use simple addition to figure out how many rooms are in the library, without even visting them! OK, not exactly elegant theorems, but that's how we humans passed from being terrified, superstitious beings to reasoning people. William represented science AND faith in the Middle Ages. If I was a math teacher, I'd recommend it to math-shy students who may need an appreciation of what math has done for civilization.

Another nice summary of the mathematical content appeared in David Fowler's Mathematics as Science Fiction

Contributed by David Fowler

Mathematics appears in more subtle fashion as the maze-solving scheme used by Brother William in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. The scheme is a "depth-first search algorithm" in computer-science jargon, with an underlying mathematical justification.

More information about this work can be found at www.amazon.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 The Name of the Rose
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
  2. Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton by Philip Kerr
  3. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer
  4. The Beekeeper's Apprentice: Or the Segregation of the Queen by Laurie R. King
  5. The Body Outside the Kremlin by James L. May
  6. The Fall of Man In Wilmslow by David Lagercrantz
  7. Murder and Mendelssohn (Phryne Fisher Mystery) by Kerry Greenwood
  8. The Library Paradox by Catherine Shaw
  9. Flowers Stained with Moonlight by Catherine Shaw
  10. The Three Body Problem by Catherine Shaw
Ratings for The Name of the Rose:
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:
1/5 (2 votes)
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Literary Quality:
4.5/5 (2 votes)
..

Categories:
GenreHistorical Fiction, Mystery,
Motif
Topic
MediumNovels,

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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)