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The
MathQuest
Storyline. The initial storyline I had thought of started off with the following explanation, given to our hero by the local police chief. CHIEF: They've stolen π. Our prime suspects are 11, 19 and 23. I quickly realized that turning the search for π into the main plot would cause many of the mathematical allusions to seem detached. Despite the tingling idea of having the witnesses help with drawing a composite of the prime suspects, it would have turned into too much of a detective story. Instead, I opted for our hero to spend his time searching for "The Book." "The Book" is the famous mathematician's, Paul Erdös', notion of a volume written by God, which contains the most elegant and sublime of proofs of mathematical theorems. This way, plot advances can "excuse" the presentation of accompanying mathematical concepts. Opening Dialog A conversation between God's messenger and our dreaming hero. ???: Math is a tricky business. HERO: Huh? Who the devil is this? ???: I am a dwarf. I am God's Instant Messenger (Limited Edition), Gimle. HERO: What is it you want? You're interrupting what could be an otherwise monumentally productive dream, you know! GIMLE: Silence! HERO: Sorry... GIMLE: Silence! HERO: ::GULP:: GIMLE: God has sent me to find a brave and fearless adventurer...but they were all too busy adventuring-it-up, so here I am ::WINK:: GIMLE: As you may or probably may not be aware, God keeps a book of proofs - a book of perfect proofs - of all the important mathematical theorems ::DRAMATIC DRUMBEAT:: GIMLE: The bad news is that...<<religious censorship>>...and now some of its pages are missing. For Christ's sake, you must find them! HERO: Yup, will do. Now that we're finished with the background to the plot, could you please put Pamela And...err.., Friedrich Gauss back on? GIMLE exits (in a puff of white cloud and memory deallocation). HERO: Oh yeah, Friedrich...Hrrr... |