MathFiction: Three Days in Karlikania (Vladimir Levshin)

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Three Days in Karlikania (1964)

Vladimir Levshin
(click on names to see more mathematical fiction by the same author)
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A children's fantasy novel written in Russian. I have not been able to find much about it but Rob Milson says:

Contributed by Rob Milson

Three children travel to Karlikania, an enchanted land populated by numerals. Here they befriend a slightly naughty zero (zeros are the babies of this magical country) and spend 3 wonderful days exploring mathematical ideas. Along the way they learn about infinity and the danger of dividing by zero, the laws of arithmetic, prime numbers and the sieve of Eratosthenes, the history of the number system, divisibility tests, and many many other ideas.

Click here to see comments about the sequel to this book.

More information about this work can be found at www.bakupages.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 Three Days in Karlikania

According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:

The Number Devil [Der Zahlenteufel] by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Black Mask of Al-Jabr by Vladimir Levshin
A Gebra Named Al by Wendy Isdell
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster / Jules Feiffer (Illustrator)
Number Stories: Learning Arithmetic Through the Adventures of Ralph and His Schoolmates by Alhambra G. Deming
Little Zero the Seafarer [Captain One's frigate] by Vladimir Levshin
Numberland by George Weinberg
The Magic Two-Horn by Sergey Pavlovich Bobrov
Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers by Pendred Noyce
Jayden's Rescue by Vladimir Tumanov

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Categories:

Genre	Fantasy, Didactic, Children's Literature,
Motif
Topic	Algebra/Arithmetic/Number Theory, Real Mathematics,
Medium	Novels,

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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)