Imaginary Numbers: An Anthology of Marvelous Mathematical Stories, Diversions, Poems, and Musings

442 Pages·1999·1.46 MB·English

by  William Frucht

title: Imaginary Numbers : An Anthology of
Marvelous Mathematical Stories,
Diversions, Poems, and Musings
author: Frucht, William
publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (US)
isbn10 | asin: 0471332445
print isbn13: 9780471332442
ebook isbn13: 9780585282312
language: English
subject Mathematics--Literary collections.
publication date: 1999
lcc: PN6071.M3I47 1999eb
ddc: 808.8/0356
subject: Mathematics--Literary collections.
Page iii
Imaginary Numbers
An Anthology of Marvelous Mathematical Stories, Diversions,
Poems, and Musings
Edited by William Frucht
Page iv
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Permission acknowledgments can be found on pages 325327.
Copyright © 1999 by William Frucht. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108
of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written
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[phone], email: [email protected].
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in
regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the
publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional
advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent
professional person should be sought.
ISBN 0-471-33244-5
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Page v
Contents
Preface ix
1
The Form of Space
1
Italo Calvino
2
A New Golden Age
11
Rudy Rucker
3
A Serpent with Corners (from A Tangled Tale)
21
Lewis Carroll
4
A Positive Reminder
27
J. A. Lindon
5
How Kazir Won His Wife
29
Raymond Smullyan
6
11 May 1905 (from Einstein's Dreams)
39
Alan Lightman
7
Why Does Disorder Increase in the Same Direction of Time As That
in Which the Universe Expands?
43
Roald Hoffman
Page vi
8
The Golden Man
45
Philip K. Dick
9
The Morphology of the Kirkham Wreck
79
Hilbert Schenck
10
Resolution of the Paradox: A Philosophical Puppet Play
111
Abner Shimony
11
Parallelism
113
Piet Hein
12
Prelude . . . (from Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid)
115
Douglas Hofstadter
13
The Third Sally, or The Dragons of Probability (from The Seven
Sallies of Trurl and Klapaucius)
127
Stanislaw Lem
14
Concerning Irregular Figures (from Flatland)
143
Edwin Abbott Abbott
15
The Definition of Love
149
Andrew Marvell
16
On Fiddib Har (from The Planiverse: Computer Contact with a
Two-Dimensional World)
151
A. K Dewdney
17
The Church of the Fourth Dimension 169
Martin Gardner
Page vii
18
The Extraordinary Hotel, or the Thousand and First Journey of Ion
the Quiet
181
Stanislaw Lem
19
Ten Weary, Footsore Travelers
191
Anonymous
20
From The Policeman's Beard Is Half-Constructed
193
Racter
21
Burning Chrome
195
William Gibson
22
Gonna Roll the Bones
217
Fritz Leiber
23
A Word on Statistics
241
Wislawa Szymborska
24
Giovanni and His Wife
245
Tommaso Landolfi
25
The Private War of Private Jacob
251
Joe Haldeman
26
The Library of Babel
257
Jorge Luis Borges
27
Enantiomorphosis (A Natural History of Mirrors)
267
Christian Bök
28
Schwarzschild Radius
275
Connie Willis
29
Letter from Caroline Herschel (17501848)
295
Siv Cedering
Page viii
30
From We
299
Yevgeny Zamyatin
31
The Garden of Time
313
J. G. Ballard
Acknowledgments 323
Permission Acknowledgments 325
Page ix
Preface
In fifth grade I was cast as the Mock Turtle in my school's production of Alice in
Wonderland. My mother was supposed to make my costume. Like many
suburban matrons of the time, she owned a sewing machine but had only the
vaguest idea how to use it. She managed to make me a light green hood and
some little boot-like things for my feet (Mrs. Hackel, one of the teachers
organizing the show, had to tell her to turn them inside out to hide the stitching),
and the local A&S cheerfully sold her a pair of green tights and a green
turtleneck shirt. But she was utterly defeated by the task of making a shell. So,
just before the final dress rehearsal, after a whispered conversation with the
director, Mrs. Hackel hurried off and returned fifteen minutes later with my
turtle shell.
I found it distinctly disappointing: a flat, vaguely oval piece of corrugated brown
cardboard, with livid green tortoise markings painted on one side, an elastic strap
stapled on the back for hanging around one's neck, and down at the bottom a
little brown tail, perhaps five inches long. It was not mentioned to me that this
costume had a history.
The school, one of those sprawling one-story brick structures built in the late
fifties to warehouse young baby boomers, was at the time less than ten years old.
Some years before, when it was very new, the faculty had decided to introduce
themselves to the local parents by putting on a show. My shell had been worn by
a