Alice's Adventures in wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll, is recognized by almost everyone as a classic in children's literature. What many are are surprised to learn is that Carroll was a professor of Mathematics, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Dodgson used his real name only when writing on mathematical topics and his pen name when writing children's literature.
One of the unique qualities of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is its appeal to children and adults as well. For decades, mathematicians and logicians have tried to look beyond what appears to be children's nonsense and find a logical meaning in much of it. Some believed that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is full of symbolic logic, a topic on which Carroll often wrote as a mathematician. An example of this can be found in the story when Alice says, "Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is-oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!"
Mathematicians propose different explanations for this passage, such as the use of bases other than base 10. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that the multiplication table traditionally stops at 12. If you continue the nonsense progression, 4x5=12, 4x6=13, 4x7=14, and so on, you will end with 4x12=19, which is one short of 20. So Alice's fear that she will never get to twenty may be well-founded.
~Chua, Simon L. et.al., 2005
hostgator coupon
