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Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat (1997) |
 | Theoni Pappas |
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This is a book of vignettes discussing math topics rather than a novel or a true short story. The author (Pappas) uses the exploits of her cat, Penrose, to present topics in a fun way. For example,... (more) |
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Battle of the Frog and the Mouse (1984) |
 | John Barrow |
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This succinct, well-writtten fable captures the polemics between Hilbert and Brouwer related to Hilbert's Formalist position and Brouwer's Constructivist position vis a vis the foundations of mathematics... (more) |
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Calculus and Pizza (2003) |
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| Clifford Pickover |
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A pizza chef teaches calculus to his restaurant patrons. Romance and hilarity ensue.
(more) |
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The Case of the Murdered Mathematician (2001) |
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| Julia Barnes / Kathy Ivey |
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This story is actually a fictionalized account of the "Murder Mystery" game
played by the MAA Student Mathematics Club at Western Carolina University.
Clues provide insight into possible motivations... (more) |
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The Cat in Numberland (2006) |
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| Ivar Ekeland (author) / John O'Brien (illustrator) |
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This picture book uses the idea of a hotel with infintely many rooms for introducing some advanced concepts about numbers and infinity to children. The hotel, run in the book by "Mr. and Mrs. Hilbert",... (more) |
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Cálculo Infinitesimal de una variable
(1994) |
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| Juan de Burgos Román |
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Apparently, this Spanish calculus textbook begins each chapter with a "tale". I have not yet had a chance to see the book myself, and so I cannot say for certain whether these really are "fiction" or... (more) |
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Cálculo Infinitesimal de varias variables
(1995) |
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| Juan de Burgos Román |
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Apparently, this Spanish calculus textbook begins each chapter with a "tale". I have not yet had a chance to see the book myself, and so I cannot say for certain whether these really are "fiction" or... (more) |
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A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel (2007) |
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| Gaurav Suri / Hartosh Singh Bal |
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The intertwined stories of Ravi, a Stanford student taking a course on "Infinity" in the 1980's, and his grandfather who was jailed for blasphemy in New Jersey in 1919 constitute a philosophical investigation... (more) |
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Chaos in Wonderland: Visual Adventures in a Fractal World (1995) |
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| Clifford Pickover |
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Devoted to a society of mathematicians living in a subterranean chamber of Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. Status in their societies is determined by the beauty of their fractal dreams. Fractal weapons, chaos theory, the Lyapunov exponent, and strange attractors are featured.
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Crimes and Math Demeanors (2007) |
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| Leith Hathout |
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The short mysteries in this book remind me of "Encyclopedia Brown". After a brief description of a sometimes contrived dilemma facing our young detective -- 14 year old Ravi -- you are given an opportunity... (more) |
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Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959) |
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| Hamilton Luske (director) |
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Disney's Donald Duck takes an adventure to a land where mathematics
"comes alive". (Animated short.)
I used this video in my 6th grade
classroom. The kids enjoyed watching
... (more) |
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An Episode of Flatland (1907) |
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| Charles H. Hinton |
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Hinton, whose biography is a
little too weird for me to believe and whose essays on the fourth dimension
(see for example A New
Era of Thought) leave me wondering how much he really believed that the
fourth... (more) |
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Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884) |
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| Edwin Abbott Abbott |
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This is the classic example of mathematical fiction in which
the author helps us to think about the meaning of "dimension" through
fictional example: a visit to a world with only two spatial
dimensions.... (more) |
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Flatterland: like Flatland, only more so (2001) |
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| Ian Stewart |
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In this "sequel" to Flatland, popular
mathematics writer Ian Stewart lets us accompany the granddaugther of the
original "A. Square" who starred in original classic, as she learns about
fractal dimensions,... (more) |
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Gödel, Escher Bach: an eternal golden braid (1979) |
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| Douglas Hofstadter |
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Pulitzer Prize wining book whose chapters alternate between fictional
"dialogues" and more standard non-fiction format to present ideas from
philosophy, art, music and psychology as well as mathematical... (more) |
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The Gnome and the Pearl of Wisdom: A Fable (1977) |
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| Richard Willmott |
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A greedy gnome with a countably infinite collection of marbles wants to
trade it with Merlin the mathematician for his beautiful "pearl of
wisdom". Merlin takes advantage of the gnomes unfamiliarity... (more) |
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Hilbert's Hotel (1999) |
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| Ian Stewart |
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Another take on the idea (attributed to lectures by David Hilbert) that the bizarre properties of the countably infinite can best be presented through the analogy of a hotel. Here, Mr. and Mrs. Smith... (more) |
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Infinities (2002) |
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| John Barrow |
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This play, written by Cambridge cosmologist John Barrow, has been produced and performed in Italy (Milan and Valencia). It is made up of five separate vignettes several of which touch on the deep mathematics... (more) |
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Into Thin Air (2000) |
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| Colin Adams |
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This was the first of Colin Adams' ``Mathematically Bent'' columns for the Mathematical Intelligencer, published back in Vol.22, No. 1, 2000. It combines many of the analogies between mountain climbing... (more) |
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Jayden's Rescue (2002) |
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| Vladimir Tumanov |
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I am the author of a children's math mystery novel entitled Jayden's
Rescue and
Published by Scholastic Canada. This novel's plot revolves around
mathematical puzzles for the grades 4-6 level. The... (more) |
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Kandelman's Krim: A Realistic Fantasy (1957) |
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| John Lighton Synge |
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Thanks for Tony Vance for pointing out to me that this novel by mathematical physicist J.L. Synge should be included in my database. It is difficult to find now, but it is clear that at the time of its... (more) |
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The Kissing Number (1992) |
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| Ian Stewart |
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Published as part of his "Mathematical Recreations" column in Scientific
American (February 1992), this story concerns human colonists on Mars
who are trying to figure out how many non-overlapping "circular"... (more) |
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Letters to a Young Mathematician (2006) |
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| Ian Stewart |
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I listed this one here before I had a chance to read it and am now wondering whether it should be counted as fiction at all. This is an excellent book which provides a lot of useful information about... (more) |
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The Loom of God: Mathematical Tapestries at the Edge of Time (1997) |
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| Clifford Pickover |
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A group of time travelers journey back to the time of Pythagoras in an effort to see the origins of mystical mathematics. The journey continues as they explore numerous links between mathematics, nature and mysticism. Concepts featured: pentagonal numbers, perfect numbers, oblong numbers, the golden ratio, and fractals. Religious implications are also discussed.
(more) |
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Math Curse (1995) |
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| Jon Scieszka / Lane Smith (illustrator) |
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In this children's picture book, the main character finds that "anything can be a math problem" when her elementary school teacher puts a math curse on her. For example:
Unfortunately for me, LUNCH... (more) |
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Math Patrol (1977) |
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| TV Ontario |
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"Math Patrol was a 15-minute long educational TV series produced in the late 1970s by TV Ontario about the adventures of a secret agent named "Sydney" who dressed up as a kangaroo with a blue trenchcoat.... (more) |
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Mathmakers (1978) |
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| TV Ontario |
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Canadian television show (circa 1978) about making a television show.
Humorous story lines illustrate mathematical concepts.
"The program was developed and produced by TVOntario in 1978. Each
episode... (more) |
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The Next Dimension (1947) |
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| Vladimir Karapetoff |
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"A Mathematical Play in Five Dialogs". Once again, we are treated to the
Flatland notion of two-dimensional creatures
pondering a "hypothetical" three dimensional existence. Many of the usual
concerns... (more) |
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Number 9: The Search for the Sigma Code (1998) |
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| Cecil Balmond |
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A young boy learns about mathematics while trying to solve a mathematical puzzle.
"As a teacher and Education Inspector in England I would rate
this book very highly. It is extremely well written... (more) |
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The Number Devil (Der Zahlenteufel) (1997) |
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| Hans Magnus Enzenberger |
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"The title may be translated as The
Counting Devil, or maybe The Number Devil, and it has a subtitle that
translates to 'a pillowbook for everyone
who is afraid of math'. Enzensberger is a respected... (more) |
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The Parrot's Theorem (2000) |
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| Denis Guedj |
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This is an ambitious novel, a magical fantasy about a talking parrot bought at a flea market in France who, with the help of the personal library of a reclusive mathematical genius, teaches some children... (more) |
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Professor Conundrum Mysteries! (2008) |
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| Bill Streifer |
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My book, Professor Conundrum Mysteries!...combines math education (non-fiction) and historical fiction.
The book consists of five stories that take place during important events in 20th century U.S.... (more) |
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Pythagoras' Revenge: A Mathematical Mystery (2009) |
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| Arturo Sangalli |
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Freelance science journalist Sangalli has written a book which presents some historical information about Pythagoras and his beliefs in the form of a novel of the detail driven conspiracy theory adventure... (more) |
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Pythagorean Crimes (2006) |
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| Tefcros Michaelides |
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This murder mystery takes place amid the exciting developments occurring in the mathematical and artistic communities in Europe between 1900 and 1931. Much of what one will learn by reading this book... (more) |
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Report from the Ambassador to Cida-2 (2008) |
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| Clifton Cunningham |
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The human selected to communicate with the aquatic aliens of Cida-2 is surprised to learn that their number system differs from our own. In particular, although our communication with the extra-terrestrials... (more) |
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The Rose Acacia |
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| Ralph P. Boas, Jr. |
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"A computer makes a deal with the devil, with the
usual escape clause: if it can ask a question the devil cannot answer, the
computer gets the information for free. As the devil puts it, no logical
paradoxes,... (more) |
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The Shackles of Conviction (2008) |
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| James R. Meyer |
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This novel intersperses a fictionalized account of the life of Kurt Gödel with the modern tale of an engineer who realizes (and eventually convinces the world) that Gödel's proof was flawed and that... (more) |
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Shakespeare Predicted it All (2003) |
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| Dietmar Dath |
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An artistically composed piece about Georg Cantor, inventor of the theory of transfinite cardinals, in the form of a dialogue between the characters "1" and "2", both of whom are either Cantor or Hamlet.... (more) |
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Sophie's Diary (2004) |
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| Dora Musielak |
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Sophie Germain famously studied mathematics at night by candlelight despite her parents' insistence that she give up this unfeminine discipline. She then went on to become one of the great mathematician's... (more) |
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Sticks (2002) |
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| Joan Bauer |
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Fifth grader Mickey Vernon gets help from his "math whiz" friend in beating a bully at pool in this novel for children. Some reviewers complained that the plot was slow and that the harping on mathematics... (more) |
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The Strange Case of Mr. Jean D. (1983) |
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| Joao Filipe Queiro |
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Published in the Mathematical Intelligencer magazine (Math.Intell. 5, 3 78-90 (1983)) this is the story of a mathematician who has a nightmare: Pi is rational! (Thanks to Nuno Crato for the suggestion.) (more) |
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Surfing through Hyperspace (2001) |
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| Clifford Pickover |
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FBI agents investigate the disappearance of people abducted into the fourth dimension. Along the way, the agents learn about degrees of freedom, quaternions, nonorientable surfaces, mathematics of hyperspheres, and numerous other mathematics relating to higher spatial geometries.
(more) |
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Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893) |
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| Lewis Carroll |
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The sequel to his somewhat popular book "Sylvie and Bruno" never
achieved the popularity of the original. This lack of success may or
may not be related to Chapter VII (entitled "Mein Herr") of the... (more) |
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A Tangled Tale (1886) |
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| Lewis Carroll |
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A collection of ten mathematical puzzles in story form by the famous author/mathematician Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll).
"The reason I answered 3 for "Mathematical Content" is that all the math... (more) |
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Three Days in Karlikania (1964) |
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| Vladimir Levshin |
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A children's fantasy novel written in Russian. I have not been able to find much about it but Rob Milson says:
Three children travel to Karlikania, an enchanted land populated by numerals. Here they... (more) |
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Turing (A Novel About Computation) (2003) |
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| Christos Papadimitriou |
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A history of mathematics (from the point of view of computer science), as told by an artificially intelligent computer program named Turing to a lovelorn archaeologist.
The author, a computer science... (more) |
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Uncle Georg's Attic (2002) |
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| Ben Schumacher |
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This short story appeared in the September 2002 issue of "Math Horizons",
published by the Mathematical Association of America. In it, some kids
look through an attic containing lots of stuff belonging... (more) |
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Zéro, ou les Cinq vies d'Aemer (2005) |
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| Denis Guedj |
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This novel traces the history of the number `zero' through the lives of five different women, living in five different eras, but all living in the same place: Mesopotamia/Iraq.
Guedj is already known... (more) |
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