a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)
Home | All | New | Browse | Search | About |
... |
|
... |
Sometimes a surprising mathematical fact will inspire a science fiction story to illustrate it. I suspect that is what happened with this story that comes up with a contrived circumstance in which the plot depends upon the existence of wheels that are not circular but nevertheless support an object placed on top at a fixed height as they revolve.
The story apparently first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1963 but was most recently republished in the collection called Trouble Twisters.
For a non-fictional approach to the same subject, you can read Ivars Peterson's article at the MAA website.
Just saw a video of the National Museum of Math in NYC. They have square-wheeled tricycles that reminded me of a story by Poul Anderson that revolved around a wheel that wasn't based on a circle. When I did a search to get the name of the story, your site popped up. What a find! thanks.
I already voted on this about a year ago. I am re-reading "Three Cornered Wheel" and stopped to look up 'constant width polygons'. This YouTube video not only shows you how to make them, but demonstrates them as well.
|
Buy this work of mathematical fiction and read reviews at amazon.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.) |
|
Home | All | New | Browse | Search | About |
Exciting News: The total number of works of mathematical fiction listed in this database recently reached a milestone. The 1,500th entry is The Man of Forty Crowns by Voltaire. Thanks to Vijay Fafat for writing the summary of that work (and so many others). I am also grateful to everyone who has contributed to this website. Heck, I'm grateful to everyone who visited the site. Thank you!
(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)