Questions tagged [mathematics]
For questions about "mathematics" in works of science fiction or fantasy. Also for use on [story-identification] questions.
34
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Book about person using logic to leave our world and enter enter magical one
The plot is about 2 characters one of which is male and a regular human with no super abilities but with above knowledge of science, the category theory to be precise, and is smart enough to create ...
- 203
5
votes
0
answers
82
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In the NumberBlock's time-travel episode "Double Back", what are all of the references to other time-travel movies (or other media)?
I was watching the (children's show) NumberBlock's episode "Double Back" with my two kids (5M and 2F), and I noticed several references to Back to the Future as well as a recurring reference ...
- 920
7
votes
1
answer
227
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Hopeful sci-fi book where humans are immortal, and both they and crabs love mathematics
I remember reading about this book in a blog post one time. There’s a group of people on a spaceship who are immortal, who spend 5000 years proving a mathematical theorem, simply because they can. ...
18
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1
answer
1k
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A short story where popularising math leads to people doing math like "muzak"
The story starts with two math people in an elevator, complaining about the "Muzak" that's piped in and inescapable. They complain about how trite and shallow it is, nothing like "real ...
- 183
27
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1
answer
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Asimov story about a man who can do calculations on paper
I'm trying to find a short story by Asimov – I don't think it could be anyone else – where a mid-level office worker brings an underling in to see the boss, and asks the underling to demonstrate to ...
- 303
17
votes
1
answer
334
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Aliens with innate mathematical ability
I'm trying to find the title and author of a short novel I read about 10 years ago. The book was in English, and the writer was a woman, and not a "big name" as far as I recall. The story ...
- 68.2k
29
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1
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90s (or earlier) short story concerning two mathematicians and "dark numbers"
I think I read this short story 20, 30 years ago. The story concerns two mathematicians in a dark dystopian future. The one is struggling with some project, and can't figure out how to get the thing ...
- 401
11
votes
1
answer
272
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Story with continued fraction formula
When I was in my teens, so it must have been in the seventies, I read a science fiction story (I do not remember whether it was a novel or a short story) that contained a displayed mathematical ...
- 255
4
votes
1
answer
370
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Story with the continuum hypothesis at the end [duplicate]
When I was in my teens, I think (if so it must have been in the seventies or early eighties), I read a short story about a single person landing in a space ship on a hostile military planet, and then ...
- 255
5
votes
1
answer
425
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Is the audience laughing at Dr Alexander Murry's presentation?
In the 2018 film adaptation by Jennifer Lee of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, there is a scene where Dr Alexander Murry (henceforth Dr Murry even if his wife is also Dr Murry), played by ...
- 3,578
53
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3
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Has a Star Wars character ever been told the odds and not gone on to beat them?
C3-PO: Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!
K2-SO: There is a ninety-seven point six percent chance of failure.
This happens a lot in Star ...
- 67.1k
9
votes
3
answers
947
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Do we ever see anyone perform a mathematical calculation with magic in Harry Potter?
From Pottermore:
Witches and wizards are not averse to laborious calculations, which they can, after all, do magically, so they do not find it inconvenient to weigh in ounces, pounds and stones; ...
- 62k
7
votes
1
answer
675
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Cosmic topology in Greg Egan's Orthogonal Universe
Eventually the people in the universe of Greg Egan's "Orthogonal" series figure out the topology of their cosmos.
But then they say the opposite, that
because of the presence of matter. So what ...
- 1,935
2
votes
0
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113
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Division on the soul splitting [duplicate]
I don't think there will be a canonical answer for this question. I'm just wondering if this is how it works.
It's said that when you kill someone, you split your soul. I believe that means you split ...
- 552
11
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5
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What was the first story where a universal constant had a different value?
In some stories, the value of a universal constant is different than it is reality. For example, in Going Postal:
'Something like that, sir, probably, something like that,' said Groat.
'Three and ...
- 117k