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一部令人喜爱的英文数学小说

已有 7636 次阅读 2009-11-22 07:58 |个人分类:生活点滴|系统分类:海外观察

        2007年,普林斯顿大学出版社出了一部数学小说《A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel 》,作者是两位拥有数学硕士学位的职场人士:Gaurav Suri (Stanford大学硕士) 和Hartosh Singh Bal (New York大学硕士)。两人从小就是要好的玩伴,首次联手写下了这部妙趣横生、充满数学韵味的小说。读者在愉悦欣赏故事情节的过程中,有望多角度加深理解或掌握高等数学中的某些概念(旁曰:不排除有人可能由此理解得更歪了,小说毕竟不是教科书!呵呵)。这部小说受到许多人士(自然含非数学专业人士)的喜爱,出版当年就在美国获奖。现在该书已翻译成意大利文。

       此外,除了有人在《Math Intelligencer》上评介这部小说外,职业的数学工作者亦在 《Math Review》 上载有评论。例如,美国 College of Charleston 数学系的 Alex Kasman 教授的评论为:

       The intertwined stories of Ravi, an undergraduate at Stanford taking a course on ``Infinity'' in the 1980s, and his grandfather, a Hindu mathematician imprisoned on charges of blasphemy in New Jersey in 1919, constitute a philosophical investigation of the nature of ``truth'' and ``certainty'' in religion, mathematics and life.
        The authors are childhood friends who each hold a Master's degree in mathematics. So, unlike some works of fiction in which mathematics is only mentioned in vague terms, the math here is presented in great detail. In fact, a reader could learn about such topics as the convergence of infinite sums, Cantor's theory of transfinite cardinals, the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms of set theory and the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis from Ravi's inspiring professor. Similarly, the jailhouse conversations of his grandfather with a judge are sufficient to provide the interested reader with a good understanding of Euclid's axiomatic approach to geometry and some of the early history of non-Euclidean geometries.
         However, this is a novel and not a textbook. Equal attention is paid to the carefully orchestrated, non-mathematical events in the lives of the fictional characters, which artfully mirror the mathematical developments. Even real mathematicians are ``fictionalized'', in the form of journal entries supposedly written by Euclid, Riemann, Gauss and Cantor. The notation and language of these journal entries is not what the historical figures would have used, but they serve an important purpose by emphasizing the emotional state of the mathematicians.
         Although mathematicians are accustomed to seeing mathematics presented in isolation, the human side of this story will allow the authors to share their deep knowledge and love of mathematics with a wider audience.

         更多的介绍链接:http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8479.html

         该小说的第一章可下载:http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8479.pdf



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