Reading for the Fun of It: The Math-Literature Connection (Grades 8-12)

Graphic: Andrew Ault

When literature integrates math into the plot, the results can be highly entertaining. Here are books, some from the ENC collection, that students can read to gain new perspectives and that teachers can use to give math an interesting twist. Note that many of these books are not math books, but rather books that apply mathematics in unexpected settings. (In case you're wondering why July 3 is the date of this entry, it's because July 3 is Stay Out of the Sun Day. To recognize the day, it seems like a natural fit to sit in the shade of a tree and read a good book!)

Classroom Resources from the ENC Collection

1. The parrot's theorem
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 9 - Post-Sec. Cost: $11.63 ENC#: 025805
   Feathers, Fermat, and foul play--you'll find it all in this mystery that takes the reader eventually on a journey from Paris to an Amazon rain forest and immediately on a tour through the principles and history of math. The main characters include an 11-year-old boy who is deaf, the boy's twin sister and brother, the boy's mother, a bookseller who inherits a wondrous collection of math books from an old school friend-mathematician who dies mysteriously, and a parrot that can discuss "maths" (as the characters say in the book and as they say in England--the author is British). In recounting the story, the novel describes the work of Thales, Archimedes, Leibniz, Fermat, and many more. Be aware that once in a very great while, a few (very few) fairly mild curse words are used.
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
2. Conned again, Watson!: cautionary tales of logic, math, and probability
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 9 - Post-Sec. Cost: $16.00 ENC#: 021267
   How could you not like a book that has a cartoon drawing of Napoleon wearing a Bell curve hat! This book of fun-to-read short stories features Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (and several stories even include Sherlock's brother, Mycroft, and mathematician and writer Charles Dodgson, or Lewis Carroll, as prominent characters). The mysteries are set in England in the late 1800s, and they are peppered with clues that Holmes and sometimes Watson use to reason their way to the solutions. Holmes and Watson employ deductive reasoning techniques that make use of probability and statistics, decision theory, and game theory. Readers can try to solve the mysteries as they read or just enjoy following Holmes and Watson as they deduce the solutions.
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
3. Euclid's window: the story of geometry from parallel lines to hyperspace
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 11 - Post-Sec. Cost: Out of Print ENC#: 021117
   This very readable history of mathematics is also part biography. It presents the story of geometry through the discoveries of five mathematicians--Euclid, Descartes, Gauss, Einstein, and twentieth-century Fields Medal-winner Edward Witten. The book traces the evolution of geometric ideas and people's understanding of the universe, from Euclid's five postulates to the twentieth-century development of string theory and M-theory--and it does all this with a sense of humor and a light, entertaining style of writing. This book's view of historical developments is based on the author's belief that nature evolves with hidden order and that mathematics reveals it. (Note that the book is out of print, but it should still--we hope--be available at the library.)
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
4. Flatland: a romance of many dimensions
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 9 - Post-Sec. Cost: Free ENC#: 020810
   URL: http://downlode.org/etext/flatland/index.html
   This book explores what it's like to live in a flat world of two dimensions and in other worlds as well--for example, the one-dimensional world of Lineland. But there's much more to the book than that. As indicated by its subtitle, A Romance of Many Dimensions, this book can be appreciated on a number of levels. Written in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the book reflects how difficult it can be for inhabitants to perceive their own world and how differently an observer perceives that world. On another level, the writing provides a commentary on the class system and the treatment of women in Victorian England. Flatland is available online and in print. If you can, obtain the annotated version (in book form only), aptly titled The Annotated Flatland, published in 2002 (by Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, Mass.). Annotated by Ian Stewart, the author of Flatterland (see below), this version offers numerous explanations and asides that make it doubly fun to read.
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
5. Flatterland: like Flatland, only more so
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 9 - Post-Sec. Cost: $15.00 ENC#: 024073
   You know when you read the subtitle--Like Flatland, Only More So--that this book is written with a sense of humor. Author Ian Stewart continues Flatland's theme of multidimensional universes, with a lot of Lewis Carroll thrown in, by writing of the adventures of A. Square's great-great-granddaughter, Vikki Line. (Edwin Abbott used the pseudonym A. Square when he wrote Flatland.) Vikki Line, with the guidance of her traveling companion, Space Hopper, explores new worlds of modern-day math concepts when the two visit such places as the Fractal Forest and meet up with characters such as a one-sided cow called Moobius (and a waiter named Chicken Mock Nugget).
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
6. In code: a mathematical journey
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 11 - Post-Sec. Cost: $13.95 - $24.95 ENC#: 020325
   Meet 16-year-old Sarah Flannery in this autobiographical exploration of her life in mathematics. The book traces Sarah's life from her very early years to her achievement in developing a fast public key cryptosystem, for which she was named Ireland's Young Scientist of the Year 1999. Sarah's curiosity about mathematical puzzles, her attempts to solve puzzles, and her eventual success in cryptography make for fascinating reading. Although you don't have to know math to enjoy the book, if you do, it's even more fun to read since the author frequently encourages you to try and solve a puzzle before going on (some of the answers are given in the book's appendix).
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
7. A mathematician reads the newspaper
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1995 Grade(s): 9 - Post-Sec. Cost: $12.95 ENC#: 019364
   How do numbers figure in the news? In a multitude of ways! Writing in a clear and pleasant journalistic style, the author of this book has produced a collection of short feature articles divided into sections just like your newspaper. Using varied and interesting examples, he shows how mathematics is used and abused in the daily paper. And in doing this, he makes it clear that mathematics is much more than performing rote computations, but rather it's a way of thinking and questioning.
   (For more details see ENC Record)