Mathematics Faculty Member Philip Ording’s 99 Variations on a Proof featured in The New York Review of Books

Mathematics Faculty Member Philip Ording’s 99 Variations on a Proof is featured in the January 13, 2022, edition of The New York Review of Books. Published in 2019, the book is inspired by the Oulipo writer Raymond Queneau, whose Exercises in Style retold a story in 99 different styles. Ording’s variations on a solution of a cubic equation, each with an explanatory note, run from “one line” and “two-column” to “clever,” “doggerel,” and “psychedelic.” The book attempts to show that ideas of style and cultural influence are as relevant to the work of mathematicians as they are to the creations of artists.