MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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The Killion (1982)
Ian Frazier
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Fans of Monty Python will recall the joke so funny that anyone who reads it dies laughing. Frazier brings us the mathematical analogue: a number so big that it kills anyone who tries to think about it. This is the only mathematical story in the funny collection called "Dating your Mom".

(To the person who just voted to give this story a 50,000 in "literary quality": I didn't die laughing...but that was pretty funny. Thanks. I'm afraid I didn't count your vote of 5 for "mathematical content" either. I mean, it is quite obvious that this story has a lot less math in it than something like A Certain Ambiguity. Use realistic values next time and I'll count it.)

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 Killion
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. I Had to Call In a Mathematician by Erik Talvila
  2. A Killer Theorem by Colin Adams
  3. The Riddle of the Universe & Its Solution by Christopher Cherniak
  4. BLIT by David Langford
  5. Cardano and the Case of the Cubic by Jeff Adams
  6. Pythagoras's Darkest Hour by Colin Adams
  7. Arithmetic Town / Arithmetic by Todd McEwen
  8. The Wonderful Dog Suit by Donald Hall
  9. All the Universe in a Mason Jar by Joe Haldeman
  10. Probability Pipeline by Rudy Rucker / Marc Laidlaw
Ratings for The Killion:
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:
2/5 (1 votes)
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Literary Quality:
3/5 (1 votes)
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Categories:
GenreHumorous,
Motif
Topic
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)