a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)
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When cryptologists try to break a simple code, one of the key clues is
the frequency with which letters appear. In English, the letter "a"
is one of the most frequently used letters. It is therefore curious
to note (and this is the clue to the solution of this "mystery") that when one writes out the names of the non-negative integers ("zero, one, two, three, ...") one does not use an "a" until one thousand! (Watch out for the bad pun at the end!)
First published in Twilight Zone magazine (1981) and reprinted in Mathenauts. |
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 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)