Serious mathematics, written with the reader in mind.
Matrix Editions
Current Books
- Teichmüller Theory Vol1
- Functional Analysis Vol1
- Solving Linear Systems
- Vector Calculus 3rd edition
- Student Solution Manual
- Sign up to be notified
- Teichmüller Theory Vol 2
- Functional Analysis Vol 2
- Advanced Calculus
- Complex Dynamics
- War and Peace in America, 1853-1868
You are here: Math in literature
|
|
 |
|
Can you identify the author of the following passage? The book? Write us at hubbard@matrixeditions.com with "math metaphors" as the subject. Or submit your favorite literary passage involving mathematics. We will give the answer and post a new excerpt August 1. New Challenge ...for
a long time you were kept in the shadows, and people did their best not
to think about you. And if they did, they tried to convince
themselves you weren't really like us. That you were less than
human, so it didn't matter. And that was how things stood until
our little movement came along. But do you see what we were up
against? We were virtually attempting to square the circle.
Here was the world, requiring students to donate. While that
remained the case, there would always be a barrier against seeing you
as properly human Previous challenge He knew, without turning to look, that Professor Tonks had entered the room. It was always like this with Tonks, the quiet entry. He seemed to insinuate himself into the room. You knew he'd arrived only when you saw the students sitting opposite straighten their shoulders or bend more anxiously over their drawings. Tonks was a dark planet whose presence could be deduced only by a deviation in the orbit of other bodies.Answer This is from Life Class by Pat Barker, winner of the Booker Prize for The Ghost Road For earlier challenges (and their answers), go to previous challenges
|