Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Alice in Wonderland

I have always been a fan of Alice in Wonderland - but maybe for different reasons than most. In college I was exposed to the mathematics of Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass are loaded with logical puzzles. So are the the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky."

Dodgson was a pretty good mathematician, and not just in logic. He also did good work in geometry and matrix algebra.

A professor at King's College in Pennsylvania has just published a chapter asking if Alice is a good role model for young women.

I don't have an answer for that but the upcoming movie looks interesting and Dodgson/Carroll's mathematics was robust.

And how can you not like Jabberwocky? Especially when it has been so brillig lately.

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