We never actually meet the mathematician in this story, but he is described in stereotypical terms. Those who have read many of my reviews on this Website know that I have a bit of a "chip on my shoulder" when it comes to stereotypes of mathematicians, but the two presented here do not bother me so much.

At several points in the story, Ford's "absentmindedness" becomes relevant, but I think that Barr has caught some aspect of the truth here. I think mathematicians might seem absentminded...although it is not because their powers of observations are weaker than their powers of concentration. Rather, I would argue, it is true of anyone that they would appear absentminded if they are concentrating on some problem which they are trying to solve, whether that problem be of a mathematical nature or otherwise. It just so happens that due to our chosen careers, mathematicians pretty much always have some problem that we're thinking about!

Again, I think Barr is on to something here. I think that mathematicians do tend to be people who are especially focused on the idea of "truth". Many of us ended up in mathematics because -- despite Godel's theorem which prevents us from reaching the ideals once dreamed of -- mathematics remains the human endeavor in which we can get closest to absolute truth. Mathematicians pride ourselves on telling the truth, no more and no less, when it comes to our subject...and I would not be surprised if this extended to our thinking in non-mathematical areas as well. (Take for instance this standard joke: "A mathematician and her husband are driving on a rural highway through a part of the country they've never seen before. As they pass a herd of cattle, the husband says `Look, honey! The cows around here are brown.' Being a mathematician, she notes that she does not yet know this for certain and says `Yes, at least on one side.'" Well, it's funnier if I don't try to explain it so much ; )

Perhaps it is this very quality that forces me to include the following discussion of an extremely minor point: Although not directly relevant to the mystery, the phrase in the title is chosen to suggest that the wife's faith goes beyond just faith to the nth degree. However, I have always taken "to the nth degree" to mean "without bound" since the n is not specified and can consequently be chosen to be arbitrarily large. So, to the nth degree really means to an infinite degree and the n-plus-1th degree gets you nothing more.

This story features a character named Dr. Sylvan Moore, who appears to be a mathematician and a recurring character. Does anyone out there know any other mathematical stories featuring Moore?

The ending was a bit obvious, and the writing was less than perfect (the opening passage in which the author toys with the fact that "n-plus-1th" rhymes with "month" is so muddled that "Ellery Queen" felt obligated to add an editor's note urging the reader to keep going despite the confusion!), but the story is decent enough and fun to read.

Originally published in Ellery Queen magazine in 1968 and replublished in 1975 in the collection "Ellery Queen's Masters of Mystery".