MathFiction: Forbidden Knowledge (Kathryn Cramer)

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Forbidden Knowledge (1987)

Kathryn Cramer
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Mathematical statements can sound pretty strange, practically humorous, when you don't know the technical definitions of the terms. This somewhat frightening story has such a statement as its punchline. Specifically, it all builds up to a quote from Irving Kaplansky's Fields and Rings:
We shall have no need to assign meaning to Ext itself; we shall speak only of its vanishing.
The story was published in 1987 in Rudy Rucker's collection Mathenauts, still the only place I know of to find it.

More information about this work can be found at another page on this Website.
(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 Forbidden Knowledge

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

Drode's Equations by Richard Grant
The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
The Fermata by Nicholson Baker
The Math Code by Alex Kasman
Probability Pipeline by Rudy Rucker / Marc Laidlaw
Conservation of Probability by Brook West
Pure Math by John Timson
The Cubist and the Madman by Robert Metzger
Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds
Snow by Geoffrey A. Landis

Ratings for Forbidden Knowledge:

Ratings

Have 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:
3/5 (1 votes)

Categories:

Genre	Science Fiction,
Motif
Topic
Medium	Short 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)