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1 to 999 (1981) |
 | Isaac Asimov |
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When cryptologists try to break a simple code, one of the key clues is
the frequency with which letters appear. In English, the letter "a"
is one of the most frequently used letters. It is therefore... (more) |
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Child's Play (1986) |
 | Isaac Asimov |
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Young Griswold uses something he just learned
in elementary school math class to solve a minor stumper. (Be
warned: the problem has a minor bug. Change "mix" to "nix".)
Published in the... (more) |
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The Feeling of Power (1957) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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An advanced society rediscovers the joys
of multipying numbers BY HAND, a forgotten art. It's a
gem.
The
author probably did not realize how quickly the premise of this story
(people so dependent... (more) |
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Foundation (1951) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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In this book and its prequels/sequels, we see humanity guided by the
work of fictional "mathematician, Hari Seldon, who works out the rules
of psychohistory and makes a secret chart that the humankind... (more) |
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Getting the Combination (1982) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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Griswold figures out a combination by correctly guessing
the next number in a sequence.
AKA "Playing the Numbers". Published originally in the June 1982 issue of Gallery.
(more) |
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Go, Little Book (1972) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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Combinatorics is used to break a "matchbook code".
One of the "Black Widower" mysteries written for Ellery Queen magazine.
See also these [2, 3] other BW stories. (more) |
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The Holmes-Ginsbook Device (1969) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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A scientist recounts how, stung by his former professor
hogging all the credit for figuring out a way to safely
light cigarettes and girlwatch at the same time, he and
... (more) |
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The Imaginary (1942) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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As Asimov notes in his afterword to it (in THE EARLY ASIMOV), it is mostly about the idea of applying mathematical formulae to psychology, which he later did with his psychohistory in the "Foundation"... (more) |
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The Last Answer (1980) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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Physicist Murray Templeton dies and is then surprised to find that he somehow still exists. Murray engages in a conversation with his Creator (who is bemused at being called `God'),... (more) |
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Mirror Image (1972) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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A robot volunteers the aid of his human, Earthling friend to settle a
dispute between a pair of feuding "spacer" mathematicians. It seems that an
old mathematician (over 270 years old in fact) and a... (more) |
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Sixty Million Trillion Combinations (1980) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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Tom Trumbull, one of Asimov's regular "Black Widower" mystery
characters, wants to convince an eccentric mathematician (working on
Goldbach's conjecture) that his secret password is not safe.
Combinatorics... (more) |
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Ten (1986) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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We might argue that the particular words and symbols we use to express
mathematical concepts are not as important as the concepts themselves...and
mathematically that may well be the case. However,... (more) |
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The Ultimate Crime (1976) |
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| Isaac Asimov |
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We all know that Sherlock Holmes' arch enemy was a mathematician,
right? (If not, check out Sherlock Holmes.)
In fact, his second famous paper was on the dynamics of an asteroid.
Now, you may ask,... (more) |
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