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Ask Slashdot: Mathematical Fiction?

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-was-an-arbitrarily-lit-and-stormy-night dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Neal Stephenson's 1999 Cryptonomicon was a great yarn. It was also a thoroughly enjoyable (and too short) romp through some mathematics. Where can I find more of that? I should say that I don't want SF — at least none of the classic SF I read voraciously in the 70s; it's just not the same thing, and far too often just a puppet-theatre for an author's philosophical rant. Has any author managed to hit the same vein as Stephenson did? (Good non-fiction math-reads are also gratefully accepted. What have you got?)"

9 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. George Orwell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    After all, 2+2=5

  2. Romney's Budget by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's great mathematical fiction.

    1. Re:Romney's Budget by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, it's fantasy.

    2. Re:Romney's Budget by JWW · · Score: 3, Funny

      Obama's budget is a fairy tale with magical creatures called "taxes on the rich" which make everything better.

  3. The Story of O by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Story of O by Pauline Reage is the fascinating account of the discovery of the number in ancient Mesopotamia.

  4. Oo oo! I've got one! by RedBear · · Score: 1, Funny

    How about the Romney/Ryan economic recovery "plan". It's gotta qualify as mathematical fiction.

    1. Re:Oo oo! I've got one! by Oh+Gawwd+Peak+Oil · · Score: 4, Funny

      I took a number out of the Romney/Ryan economic recovery plan, and multiplied it by itself to see what would happen. I got a negative number. Why would that be?

      I took another number and multiplied it by itself, and got another negative number. In fact, every number I took from that plan and multiplied by itself, I got a negative number!

      How could that be?

  5. Oh, you want mathematical _fiction_ by John+Hasler · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought you wanted fictional mathematics and was going to point you to arXiv.

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    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  6. Easy by DHalcyon · · Score: 4, Funny

    For mathematical fiction, I've found nothing beats macroeconomics textbooks.