MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Nanny and the Professor (TV Series) (1970)
AJ Carothers (creator) / Thomas L. Miller (creator)
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A handsome math professor gets the help of a magical British nanny in raising his adorable kids in this early '70's sit-com.

I actually used to watch this show when I was a little kid, but had completely forgotten about it until Bruce Reznick (a math professor at UIUC whose father was a TV comedy writer) reminded me of it. I am pleased that his character does not seem to demonstrate any of the unpleasant stereotypes of mathematicians that we see so often, but usually the fact that he was a math professor was not a big aspect of the plot.

Still, there are at least a few episodes in which this is relevant. In Star Bright, an episode unrelated to the famous mathematical short story of the same name, he is on his department's hiring committee. A key plot point is that the older applicant whom his colleagues are prejudiced against on the grounds that they need some "hip" young faculty turns out to actually be a cool guy, the author of papers advocating the use of computers in the classroom (in 1970!) as well as the author of some science fiction. In other episodes, the nanny helps a college athlete pass math and the professor is jealous of a young prodigy.

More information about this work can be found at www.imdb.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 Nanny and the Professor (TV Series)
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. The Princess Hoppy or the Tale of Labrador by Jacques Roubaud
  2. Numberland by George Weinberg
  3. Monday Begins on Saturday by Arkady Strugatsky / Boris Strugatsky
  4. Naturally by Fredric Brown
  5. After Math by Miriam Webster
  6. Matrices by Steven Nightingale
  7. The Root and the Ring by Wyman Guin
  8. The Devil a Mathematician Would Be by A.J. Lohwater
  9. I of Newton by Joe Haldeman
  10. Been a long, long time by R.A. Lafferty
Ratings for Nanny and the Professor (TV Series):
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:
1/5 (1 votes)
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Literary Quality:
2/5 (1 votes)
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Categories:
GenreHumorous, Fantasy,
MotifAcademia,
Topic
MediumTelevision Series or Episode,

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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)