Cleanthess
Dinanukht wannabe
Among my ten favorite books of 2012 I included one manga: Hisaka Mika's Suugaku (Mathematical) Girls. I know that this is an unorthodox choice, but the book is that good.
A quick Wikipedia search for Math Girls will give you all the background info about the work. I'd rather explain what I liked about the book.
I love how during the first meeting between Miruka and the nameless male narrator, they recite to each other the Fibonacci sequence, and how at the end of the book, all three of them (including Tetra the other math girl) device a secret handshake: flashing the Fibonacci sequence with their fingers:
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I also like this a lot, how before taking us on a trip through Miruka's wonderful mind, an excursion that will leave us deeply in love with and in awe of her (to quote Tetra: 'just what exactly is Milka supposed to be?, she's so amazing!'), well, before that, the author shows us what Miruka and the narrator look like to other people: two bespectacled nerds in a small and crummy high school library:
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The plot of the book is the love triangle between all three of them, and its complications; Tetra adores both the narrator and Miruka, Miruka first tolerates, then befriends Tetra, and settles for the narrator, and the narrator is undecided between the two mathematical girls. However, most of the pages are taken by an introduction to mathematical analysis and proofs of specific theorems, all done in a riveting and exhilarating manner.
Miruka 'ignores what is taught in our math classes, she busies herself in reading newly published mathematical material and problems that interest her'. This is because Miruka wants to 'see what lies ahead'; the narrator wonders: 'how vast is the sight before Miruka…?' (…) 'all I really want is to see the world as she sees it'.
The big mystery in the book is why a superhuman like Miruka will even consider engaging someone like the male narrator, and this miracle is explained in two different ways, first an apparent (and wrong) explanation, given by Miruka herself to the male narrator, after proving the infinity of prime numbers by showing that they are a harmonic (infinite) series, rather than a convergent geometric (finite series), she tells him that she elected to be a harmonic series with him, rather than remain a geometric partition by herself:
View attachment 446
But the real reason is explained at the end of the work. As we stand in awe of Miruka, after she uses the harmonic series to prove the infinity of prime numbers, Miruka stands even more in awe of he who came with that proof first: 'our master, who calculated without any apparent effort, just as men breathe, as eagles sustain themselves in the air': the greatest mathematician, Euler. In Miruka's eyes, compared to Euler she's the same as the rest of us, and Miruka is just recruiting fellow members for the Euler Fan Club.
A quick Wikipedia search for Math Girls will give you all the background info about the work. I'd rather explain what I liked about the book.
I love how during the first meeting between Miruka and the nameless male narrator, they recite to each other the Fibonacci sequence, and how at the end of the book, all three of them (including Tetra the other math girl) device a secret handshake: flashing the Fibonacci sequence with their fingers:
View attachment 444
I also like this a lot, how before taking us on a trip through Miruka's wonderful mind, an excursion that will leave us deeply in love with and in awe of her (to quote Tetra: 'just what exactly is Milka supposed to be?, she's so amazing!'), well, before that, the author shows us what Miruka and the narrator look like to other people: two bespectacled nerds in a small and crummy high school library:
View attachment 445
The plot of the book is the love triangle between all three of them, and its complications; Tetra adores both the narrator and Miruka, Miruka first tolerates, then befriends Tetra, and settles for the narrator, and the narrator is undecided between the two mathematical girls. However, most of the pages are taken by an introduction to mathematical analysis and proofs of specific theorems, all done in a riveting and exhilarating manner.
Miruka 'ignores what is taught in our math classes, she busies herself in reading newly published mathematical material and problems that interest her'. This is because Miruka wants to 'see what lies ahead'; the narrator wonders: 'how vast is the sight before Miruka…?' (…) 'all I really want is to see the world as she sees it'.
The big mystery in the book is why a superhuman like Miruka will even consider engaging someone like the male narrator, and this miracle is explained in two different ways, first an apparent (and wrong) explanation, given by Miruka herself to the male narrator, after proving the infinity of prime numbers by showing that they are a harmonic (infinite) series, rather than a convergent geometric (finite series), she tells him that she elected to be a harmonic series with him, rather than remain a geometric partition by herself:
View attachment 446
But the real reason is explained at the end of the work. As we stand in awe of Miruka, after she uses the harmonic series to prove the infinity of prime numbers, Miruka stands even more in awe of he who came with that proof first: 'our master, who calculated without any apparent effort, just as men breathe, as eagles sustain themselves in the air': the greatest mathematician, Euler. In Miruka's eyes, compared to Euler she's the same as the rest of us, and Miruka is just recruiting fellow members for the Euler Fan Club.
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