The responses below mention the following works (a few added):
A Random Walk in Science - R.L. Weber and E. Mendoza
More Random Walks In Science - R.L. Weber and E. Mendoza
In Mathematical Circles (2 volumes) - Howard Eves
Mathematical Circles Revisited - Howard Eves
Mathematical Circles Squared - Howard Eves
Fantasia Mathematica - Clifton Fadiman
The Mathematical Magpi - Clifton Fadiman
Seven Years of Manifold - Jaworski
The Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results - George H. Scheer
Mathematics Made Difficult - Linderholm
A Stress-Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown - Robert Baker
The Worm-Runners Digest
Knuth's April 1984 CACM article on The Space Complexity of Songs
Stolfi and ?? Sigact article on Pessimal Algorithms and Simplexity Analysis
Here are the responses (edited):
[Rob Day, rpjday@watrose]
Ya know, if you really want, you can borrow my copy of "A Random Walk
in Science", which contains the article on lion hunting. Most of the humor in
this book is from the physics view, not the mathematical, but there is
the occasional gem.
[Bob Atkinson, rgatkinson@watmum]
There is always Knuth's recent CACM article on the analysis of recursive
christmas songs, or something like that. It was in the last 2 years or
so, anyway, and should be obvious if you go looking.
[Paul Fronberg, paf@unixprt]
One source of mathematical humor are the three books by Eves (Prindle, Weber &
Schmidt, inc.):
I saw the same article, but in a collection of more and less serious
essays in science and mathemathics generally. It is:
A Random Walk In Science
compiled by R.L. Weber and edited by E. Mendoza
published by The Institute of Physics,
47, Belgrave Square, London, England, SW1X 8QX.
ISBN 0 85498 027 X [or 0 85498 029 6, if you believe the dustcover]
I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone with a general interest in science
and mathematics who also likes "fun" reading. Some of the essay names, just
as an example:
"When does jam become marmalade?"
"The theory of practical joking -- its relevance to physics"
"The uses of fallacy"
"On the nature of mathematical proofs"
"Arrogance on physics"
"Physics terms made easy"
"Standards for inconsequential trivia"
"Inertia of a broomstick"
"Theoretical zipperdynamics"
"The art of finding the right graph paper"
"On the imperturbability of elevator operators"
"Turboencabulator"
"A theory of ghosts"
"A stress analysis of a strapless evening gown"
"Do-it-yourself CERN Courier writing kit"
"Slidesmanship"
and many, many others besides. Although with a distinct physical bent,
there is more than enough maths stuff there to keep you laughing for
days.
It also has a companion volume, "More Random Walks In Science", same people,
same source, but I think it's a few hundred miles from my desk right now,
so can't tell you more than that it exists, and is good (but not, I feel, to
the standard of the first volume).
[Roy St. Laurent, roy@umnstat]
With regard to your request for humourous mathematics:
You might try the book _Fantasia mathematica_ edited by Clifton Fadiman
and published (my copy anyway: Coincedentally I just happened to find it
in a used bookstore this weekend) in 1958 by Simon and Schuster. It is
subtitled, "Being a set of stories, together with a group of oddments
and diversions, all drawn from the universe of mathematics." Not all of it
is humourous but entertaining nonetheless.
Here is a short example of one of the oddments:
_There Once Was a Breathy Baboon_ by Sir Arthur Eddington
There once was a breathy baboon
Who always breathed down a bassoon,
For he said, "It appears
That in billions of years
I shall certainly hit on a tune."
While this is not as thought provoking mathematically as the several
examples you gave, several others might be.
[Grace Tsang, gracet@vice.tek.com]
The defunct math mag, MANIFOLD, has a collection of funny things - all
published in a book called, Seven Years from Manifold, ed. by Jaworski.
It includes your big-game hunting example.
[Beth Kevles, beth@adelie.harvard.edu]
My best source of humorous math has been the book
A Random Walk Through Science
It is a compilation of very amusing articles pertaining to various
mathematical disciplines. I don't recall the editor or publisher, I'm
afraid. If you find these "trivial" facts necessary to locating the
book, write back and I'll get them from home. I have the book there. (I
stole it from my father a few years back...)
And then, of course, you might try back issues of the Journal of
Irreproducible Results, which occasionally has the mathematical article.
[Steve Koehler, koehler@telesoft]
I seem to recall that Lewis Carroll wrote a humorous essay or two on
mathematics.
[Hal Perkins, hal@cornell]
This isn't exactly math, but ...
The April, 1984 issue of the Communications of the ACM contains several
humourous Computer Science articles, including Don Knuth's "Complexity
of Songs" paper and others. Most of these are reprinted from sometimes
obscure sources.
[John J. Chew, poslfit@utcs.toronto.edu]
Someone in netland will no doubt be more specific, but there was a
followup to that old AMM article you mentioned, in the same journal
but some time in the last five years or so. If you don't get any
replies, let me know - I know a few people who are bound to have
copies.
[Michael Heins, heins@orion]
There is an anthology compiled by R.L. Weber entitled "A random walk
in science", published by Crane, Russak & Co. Inc., 347 Madison Ave.,
New York 10017 which contains a number of delightful humorous selections
in science and math. (133 selections total) Most relate to science, but
several may be of interest to you. I bought mine years ago at Kroch's
& Brentano's bookstore for $12.50. I have listed below a few of the titles:
"A contribution to the mathematical theory of big game hunting", H Petard
"On the nature of mathematical proofs", J E Cohen
"On the imperturbability of elevator operators: LVII", J Sykes
"A theory of ghosts", D A Wright
"A stress analysis of a strapless evening gown"
"The art of finding the right graph paper to get a straight line", S Rudin
"Slidesmanship", D H Wilkinson
Some selections are pure silliness, while others are true accounts of
humorous incidences, quotes, etc. One of my own favorites is
"The Chaostron. An important advance in learning machines",
J B Cadwallader-Cohen, WW Zysiczk, and RR Donelly condensed from
Journal of Irreproducible Results 10,30(1961). I don't know if this
journal is still being published, but it might be a source for more
humorous mathematics.
[Bill Jefferys, bill@astro.utexas.edu]
In article <33@orion.UUCP>, heins@orion.UUCP (Michael Heins) writes:
> []
> There is an anthology compiled by R.L. Weber entitled "A random walk
> in science", published by Crane, Russak & Co. Inc., 347 Madison Ave.,
> New York 10017 which contains a number of delightful humorous selections
> in science and math. (133 selections total) Most relate to science, but
> several may be of interest to you. I bought mine years ago at Kroch's
> & Brentano's bookstore for $12.50. I have listed below a few of the titles:
>
>
> "On the imperturbability of elevator operators: LVII", J Sykes
>
Unfortunately, the "author" listed above for this particular gem
is not the original "author", and therefore much of the joke
is missed. The original version of this paper was attributed to
one "S. Candlestickmaker", which is a thinly disguised corruption
of "S. Chandrasekhar", who won the Nobel Prize in Physics a few
years ago. It was printed in the format of the Astrophysical Journal,
(Chandrasekhar was editor at the time), and bears a strong resemblance
in its use of mathematics to Chandrasekhar's own papers. All of the
references in the paper give the same volume and page number; I
am told that if you find the right journal and look there, you will
find one of Chandrasekhar's few published errors (probably a typo).
I believe that the journal is Proc. Roy. Soc., but I am not sure.
[Terry L Anderson, tla@kaiser]
An older book of this nature is one entitled "Fantasia Mathematica"
by Clifton Fadiman" and published by Simon & Schuster in 1958. I
have no idea if it is still in print but you should find it in
a library. Many of the stories are written by non-mathematicians
but are about mathematics with some humorous twist. In fact many
of those authored by non-mathematicians I like better than those
by mathematicians. These are mostly short stories on a humorous
mathematical theme rather than the kind of humor in "A Random
Walk.."
[Bill Hery, wjh@bonnie]
In article <427@kaiser.UUCP>, tla@kaiser.UUCP (T Anderson) writes:
> An older book of this nature is one entitled "Fantasia Mathematica"
> by Clifton Fadiman" and published by Simon & Schuster in 1958. I
> have no idea if it is still in print but you should find it in
> a library.
A second book along the same lines by Fadiman is "The Mathematical Magpi;"
also probably out of print. I believe "Fantasia..." was released in a trade
paperback (possibly by Vintage) a few years ago. Check "Books in Print."
Another set of books of interest is "In Mathematical Circles" (2 volumes)
and "Mathematical Circles Revisited" by Eves, published by Prindle, Weber
and Schmidt. Each book has 360 anecdotes, pieces of humorous mathematical
writing, etc, many less than a page long. The article on lion hunting
mentioned in the original posting is included here. Since Eves is a
mathematician himself (with textbooks in advanced calculus, calculus, and
logic that I am aware of), some of the pieces relate to higher mathematics
than Fadiman's do, although many are accessible to general readers. I find
these books more intelligent and enjoyable than Fadiman's. Unfortunately,
these are probably out of print too.
BTW, Fadiman is best known for his work on the editorial committee
(selection committee) of the Book of the Month Club, and for work with early
radio and/or tv quiz shows.
[Stan Isaacs, isaacs@hpccc]
> There is an anthology compiled by R.L. Weber entitled "A random walk
> in science", published by Crane, Russak & Co. Inc., 347 Madison Ave.,
>
There is also a sequel called, I think, "More Random Walks in Science".
> ...
>
> "A contribution to the mathematical theory of big game hunting", H Petard
>
It is interesting to note that H. Petard was a pseudonym of Burbaki - perhaps
the only example of a double-pseudonym!
There have been several additions to the "contribution...", including fairly
recently in the A.M.M. with some new contributions of logic. (It has
references to 5 previous lists.)
Both the Worm-Runners Digest and the Journal of Irreproducible Results
have collections of articles published, and both contain some
mathimatical humour. So does the collection of essays from "Manifold".
I can get better references if needed, but they are at home.
[ki4pv!macs!mgb]
One of the funniest works of mathematical humor that I can recall
is a book called "Mathematics Made Difficult." It's hard to find,
but definitely worth the effort if you can find it. It was written
by a student of Halmos, Linderholm, I believe, and published by
World Press in the mid-'70's. It's truly hilarious. I can recall
crying, I laughed so much. I just wish *I* could find a copy now...
[David Fry, fry@huma1.harvard.edu]
Here's a fairly popular math story. Also, look at each year's MAA calendar for
some interesting, but often sophmoric humor.
Impure Mathematics
Once upon a time (1/t) pretty little Polly Nomial was strolling across
a field of vectors when she came to the edge of a singularly large matrix.
Now Polly was convergent and her mother had made it an absolute
condition that she must never enter such an array without her brackets on.
Polly, however, who had changed her variables that morning and was feeling
particularly badly behaved, ignored this condition on the grounds that it was
Znsufficient and made her way amongst the complex elements.
Rows and columns enveloped her on all sides. Tangents approached her
surface. She became tensor and tensor. Quite suddenly, three branches of a
hyperbola touched her at a single point. She oscillated violently, lost all
sense of directrix, and went completely divergent. As she reached a turning
point she tripped over a square root which was protruding from the erf and
plunged headlong down a steep gradient. When she was differentiated once more
she found herself, apparently alone, in a noneuclidean space.
She was being watched however. That smooth operator, Curly Pi, was
lurking inner product. As his eyes devoured her curvilinear coordinates a
singular expression crossed his face. Was she still convergent, he wondered.
He decide to integrate improperly at once.
Hearing a vulgar fraction behind her, Polly turned around and saw
Curly Pi approaching with his power series extrapolated. She could see at
once, by his degenerate conic and his disparitive terms that he was bent on
no good.
"Heureka," she gasped.
"Ho, ho," he said. "What a symmetric little polynomial you are. I can
see you're absolutely bubbling over with secs."
"O sir," she protested, "keep away from me. I haven't got my brackets
on."
"Calm yourself, my dear," said our suave operator, "your fears are
purely imaginary."
"I, I," she thought. "Perhaps he's homogeneous then?"
"What order are you?" the brute demanded.
"Seventeen," replied Polly.
Curly leered. "I suppose you've never been operated on yet?" he said.
"Come, come," said Curly. "Let's off to a decimal place I know and
I'll take you to the limit."
"Never!" gasped Polly.
"Exchlf!" he swore, using the vilest oath he knew. His patience was
gone. Coshing her over the coefficient with a log until she was powerless,
Curly removed her discontinuities. He stared at her significant places and
began smoothing her points of inflection. Poor Polly. All was up. She felt
his hand tending to her asymptotic limit. Her convergence would soon be gone
for ever.
There was no mercy, for Curly was a heavyside operator. He integrated
by parts. He integrated by partial fractions. The complex beast even went all
the way around and did a contour integration. What an indignity, to be
multiply connected on her first integration. Curly went on operating until he
was absolutely and completely orthogonal.
When Polly got home that evening, her mother noticed that she had been
truncated in several places. But it was too late to differentiate now. As the
months went by, Polly increased monotonically. Finally she generated a small
but pathological function which left surds all over the place until she was
driven to distraction.
The moral of our story is this: If you want to keep your expressions
convergent, never allow them a single degree of freedom!
