This novella by a trained astrophysicist who has worked for the European Space Agency features an alien designed "death trap" that challenges people with difficult mathematical puzzles. In an interview, the author stated that he was inspired to write the story by the experiences of mountain climbers, who seem willing to risk life and limb for the sake of a challenge.
A visitor to this site named Dustin brought this story to my attention and says: "Subject matter it references are prime numbers, two dimensional shadows of four dimensional objects, and triangular numbers. Several topology questions are referenced as well."
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