Why is the Devil thrilled when Hell gets its first mathematician? How do 6 and 27 solve the diabolical murder of 9? What are the advantages a vampire has in the math world? What happens when we run out of new math to discover? How does Dr. Frankenstein create the ideal mathematical creature? What transpires when a grad student digging for theorems strikes a rich vein on the ridge overlooking Deadwood? What happens when math students band together to foment rebellion? What will a mathematician do beyond the grave to finish that elusive proof?
This is just a small subset of the questions plumbed in this collection of 45 mathematically bent stories from the fertile imagination of Colin Adams. Originally appearing in
The Mathematical Intelligencer, an expository mathematics magazine, these tales give a decidedly unconventional look at the world of mathematics and mathematicians. A section of notes is provided at the end of the book that explain references that may not be familiar to all and that include additional commentary by the author.
Table of Content
Preface.- Introduction.- Immortality.- Gold Rush.- Prime Suspect.- The Cabinet of Dr. Möbius.- On Another Plane.- The Modern Prometheus.- Aftermath.- Looking Backward.- A Denial.- Algebrexit.- Fields Candidacy.- Leonhard Euler and the Seven Bridges of Königsberg.- The Great Storm.- All Tied Up.- The Adventures of Robin Caruso.- Hardy and Ramanujan.- Introduction to the Collected Works.- Mathematicus.- Happiness is a Warm Theorem.- Motivational Seminar.- Cylindra Ella.- Referee’s Support.- Silence of the Lemmas.- The Seven Labors of Hercules.- Presidential Address.- A Pi Day Carol.- GUI.- Math is Everywhere.- Job Solicitation.- CSI: MSRI.- Do Androids Dream of Symmetric Sheaves?- A Ghost Story.- Equinox.- Secrets of Math Destruction.- The Book.- A Grader’s Dream.- The End of Mathematics.- Definitions that Sizzle.- Edutainment.- A Prisoner’s Dilemma.- The Intergalactic Congress of Mathematicians.- The Gulag.- Where do Theorems Come From?- The Lord of the Rings 1: The NSF Fellowship of the Rings.- Piracy.- Notes.
About the author
Colin Adams is the Thomas T. Read Professor of Mathematics at Williams College. He primarily works in the areas of hyperbolic 3-manifolds and knot theory. Adams also writes the ‘Mathematically Bent’ column for the Mathematical Intelligencer.
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