MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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The Dangerous Dimension (1938)
L. Ron Hubbard
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Contributed by "William E. Emba"

"The Dangerous Dimension" is L. Ron Hubbard's first science fiction story, written at editor F Orlin Tremaine's request for something light, easy-reading, and humorous. In the story, Professor Henry Mudge, by thinking about negative dimensions, comes up with "Equation C", at which the mere sight one gains the ability to teleport just by thinking of the destination. Unfortunately, the teleportation happens whether or not you actually wish to go. Mudge has great difficulty controlling himself, but by forcing himself to work out "Equation D" he gains control.

No real mathematical content, just classic pulp mumbojumbo. The story could just as well have been written with "C rays" or "element D", but Hubbard apparently thought mathematics sounded better.

Of course, more people know Hubbard as the founder of the religion Scientology, but he was also a science fiction writer. (Some people might say that Scientology itself was just a clever bit of science fiction, and I might be one of them. If so, then it's a shame that he didn't include a bit of mathematical fiction in that creation as well!)

"The Dangerous Dimension", first appeared in ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, June 1938. Reprinted in Sam Moskowitz (ed) FUTURES TO INFINITY, 1970.

More information about this work can be found at galaxypress.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 Dangerous Dimension
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 by L. Ron Hubbard
  2. Perry Rhodan 2638: Zielpunkt Morpheus-System by Marc A. Herren
  3. Bonnie's Story: A Blonde's Guide to Mathematics by Janis Hill
  4. Into the Fourth by Adam Hull Shirk
  5. Gold Dust and Star Dust by Cyrill Wates
  6. A Modern Comedy of Science by Issac Nathanson
  7. The Mobius Trail by George Smith
  8. The Professor's Experiments - The Dimension of Time by Paul Bold
  9. Through the Black Board by Joel Rogers
  10. The Vanishing Man by Richard Hughes
Ratings for The Dangerous Dimension:
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 (1 votes)
..
Literary Quality:
2/5 (1 votes)
..

Categories:
GenreScience Fiction,
MotifHigher/Lower Dimensions,
TopicGeometry/Topology/Trigonometry,
MediumShort Stories,

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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)