MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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To The Power Against (2007)
Carrie Smith (writer) / Stephanie Lantry (Artist)
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Probability and the number 235 (which appears on each cover, sometimes cleverly hidden) each play a role in this interesting but still somewhat amateurish comic book series from Conjoined Comics.

Our hero is "probabilistic assessor" Catalina Jones, who gains super-powers after a freak accident involving a graviton missile, a burrito and a microwave oven. With the help of her friend Xi Chen and her fiancee, she determines that her power is to cause unlikely events to occur, events whose probability is exactly 10235 to one against. Moreover, she builds a device to help her to determine precisely what events with this probability will occur at the present time in her present location.

There is actually not that much "explicit math" in the first four issues, even though math is important to the plot. Here is a list of the mathematical references I noticed: The cover of the first issue includes a long mathematical expression involving π and q (see image). In the third issue she and Xi Chen talk about using math to analyze her powers, and in fourth issue she determines that the bizarre events she has caused all have this precise probability. (Unbeknownst to Catalina, the mysterious figures responsible for the graviton accident know that the graviton passed through exactly 10235 alternate universes. Presumably, this will turn out to be relevant.) The cover of the fourth issue features a door with a warning sign reading "Danger Keep Out Hazardous Math Area".

Thanks to Kate Owens for bringing this comic book to my attention and for lending me her copies of the first four issues.

More information about this work can be found at conjoinedcomics.com.
(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.)

Works Similar to To The Power Against
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. The Adventures of Topology Man by Alex Kasman
  2. The New Warriors (Issue #4) by Fabian Nicieza (writer) / Mark Bagley (artist)
  3. The Law by Robert M. Coates
  4. The Devil You Don't by Keith Laumer
  5. Numbercruncher by Si Spurrier (writer) / PJ Holden (artist)
  6. Storm: The Chronicles of Pandarve by Martin Lodewijk (writer) / Don Lawrence (artist)
  7. The Phantom Scientist [Le Chercher Phantôme] by Robin Cousin
  8. Probability Storm by Julian Reid
  9. Fermat's Cuisine [Fermat no Ryori] by Yugo Kobayashi
  10. The Manga Guide to Statistics by Shin Takahashi
Ratings for To The Power Against:
RatingsHave you seen/read this work of mathematical fiction? Then click here to enter your own votes on its mathematical content and literary quality or send me comments to post on this Webpage.
Mathematical Content:
2/5 (1 votes)
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Literary Quality:
2/5 (1 votes)
..

Categories:
GenreScience Fiction,
MotifFemale Mathematicians, Future Prediction through Math,
TopicProbability/Statistics,
MediumGraphic Novel/Comic Book/Manga,

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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)