a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)
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Parody is easy....topology is hard!
In this short story, I made use of (and made fun of) the classic superhero comic book genre to illustrate some ideas from topology. So, we end up seeing a battle between Topology Man (who can change the topology of objects) and his arch-enemy Homotopy (with the power to change objects in ways that preserve their topology).
My next collection? Now, you're cracking me up! Anyway, this story was not meant to be taken too seriously, but still to give some sense of what orientability is, what it means for a space to be Hausdorff, etc. Perhaps reviewer Mary Gray (Mathematical Intelligencer) took it a bit too seriously when she expressed concern about the name of another super-hero in the story: Category Theory Girl. Yes, I was perfectly aware of the fact that calling the male character "man" and the female character "girl" was inequitable. But, this is of course the way it was done in the classic comic books, and I was just turning it into a joke. (You will note that Category Theory Girl is both more powerful as a hero and also a better mathematician than the title character!)
New for April 1st 2016: You asked for it. (Well, some people asked for it...maybe not you personally.) Now, finally, here it is. The cover of the long-awaited comic book version of this mathematical comic book parody has been "leaked to the press" prior to its official publication. (Rumor has it that the international hackster known by the codename "Hauke" is responsible for the leak.) Click on the image to see it full-sized:
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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.) |
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Exciting News: The total number of works of mathematical fiction listed in this database recently reached a milestone. The 1,500th entry is The Man of Forty Crowns by Voltaire. Thanks to Vijay Fafat for writing the summary of that work (and so many others). I am also grateful to everyone who has contributed to this website. Heck, I'm grateful to everyone who visited the site. Thank you!
(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)