Language & Math

Monday, October 02, 2023 | 12:00 p.m.

Did you know Moby-Dick is full of sophisticated geometry? That James Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness novels are deliberately checkered with mathematical references? That George Eliot was obsessed with statistics? That Jurassic Park is undergirded by fractal patterns? We often think of math and literature as existing in completely different worlds, but mathematics is a fundamental part of literary structures, devices, characters, and plot.

Sarah Hart, author of Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature and the first woman to hold England’s oldest mathematical chair, shows how math and literature are complementary parts of the same quest: to understand human life and our place in the universe. Professor Hart will be in conversation with Rebecca Roberts, author, educator, speaker, and friend of Planet Word.

Language & is a series that explores the crucial role language plays in our world. Experts and trailblazers from diverse fields share how language shapes and evolves meaning in their respective disciplines. This series is made possible by the generous support of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.