Mathematics and Fiction

Book: The Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Using Only Math

This book is slated for international release in Fall, 2022 (USA: W. W. Norton, UK and World: Bloomsbury). Using both fiction and non-fiction, the narrative explains math to both lay audiences and mathematicians. I have been working on it since 2008, and after many iterations, it is finally in the form I want.

Mathematics Paper: On the Geometry of Metafiction

Presented at the mathematical conference Bridges 2012: Mathematics, Music, Art, Architecture, Culture (Towson University, July 25-29, 2012). This paper geometrically visualizes the problem of embedding disparate storylines into a single unifying narrative. It contains the mathematically-derived architecture for a fourth novel that would unify my trio of novels on Vishnu, Shiva, Devi. Available in the Bridges 2012 proceedings, pages 438-439, or by e-mail request.

Video:”The Mathematics of Fiction

A lecture that looks at some mathematical techniques that have analogs in writing fiction.

Article: “The Writing Life”

I mention some similarities between the two activities of writing fiction and doing mathematics in this Washington Post article (Feb 8, 2009).

Short Story: “The Tolman Trick

On the nature of proof and what it means to be a mathematician. Uses as its locale the famous mathematical institute at Oberwolfach, Germany. Originally published in the literary journal “SUBTROPICS” 1, 85-101 (2006), then reprinted in “The Shape of Content: An Anthology of Creative Writing in Mathematics and Science” (2008), in Mitteilungen der DMV (Notices of the German Mathematical Society) 17 (2009) 218-228 (German translation) and Siecle 21 16 (2010) (French translation).

BIRS Workshop on Mathematics and Creative Writing

I was invited to a workshop of authors who write about mathematics, at Banff International Research Station (Canada, April 17-22, 2004). This led to an anthology of poems and written pieces from the workshop.