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Once upon a prime : the wondrous connections between mathematics and literature / Sarah Hart.

by Hart, Sarah B., author.

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New York : Flatiron Books, 2023.

Mathematics in literature -- Popular works.

Mathematics and literature -- Popular works.

9781250850881 (hardcover)

viii, 290 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 26 cm.

Part 1: Mathematical structure, creativity, and constraint -- One, two, buckle my shoe: the patterns of poetry -- The geometry of narrative: how mathematics can structure a story -- A workshop for potential literature: mathematics and the Oulipo -- Let me count the ways: the arithmetic of narrative choice -- Part 2: Algebraic allusions: the narrative uses of mathematics -- Fairy-tale figures: the symbolism of numbers in fiction -- Ahab's arithmetic: mathematical metaphors in fiction -- Travels in fabulous realms: the math of myth -- Part 3: Mathematics becomes the story -- Taking an idea for a walk: mathematical concepts so compelling they escape into fiction -- The real life of pi: thematic mathematics in the novel -- Moriarty was a mathematician: the role of the mathematical genius in literature.

"For fans of Seven Brief Lessons in Physics, an exploration of the many ways mathematics can transform our understanding of literature and vice versa, by the first woman to hold England's oldest mathematical chair. We often think of mathematics and literature as polar opposites, as different as they come. But what if, instead, they were inextricably, even fundamentally, linked? In her clear, insightful, laugh-out-loud funny debut, Once Upon a Prime, Professor Sarah Hart shows us the myriad connections between math and literature, and how understanding those connections can enhance our enjoyment of both. Did you know, for instance, that Moby-Dick is full of sophisticated geometry? That James Joyce's stream-of-consciousness novels are deliberately checkered with mathematical references? That George Eliot was obsessed with statistics? That Jurassic Park is undergirded by fractal patterns? That Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote mathematician characters? From sonnets to fairytales to experimental French literature, Professor Hart shows how math and literature are complementary parts of the same quest, to understand human life and our place in the universe. As the first woman to hold England's oldest mathematical chair, Professor Hart is the ideal tour guide, taking us on an unforgettable journey through the books we thought we knew, revealing new layers of beauty and wonder. As she promises, you're going to need a bigger bookcase"--Provided by publisher.

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