Abstract

In 1977, when I was nine years old, Doubleday released Asimov on Numbers, a collection of essays that had first appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction and Fantasy column. My mother, recognizing my penchant for science fiction and mathematics, bought me a copy as soon as it hit the bookstores. The essays covered topics such as number systems, combinatorial curiosities, imaginary numbers, and π. I was especially taken, however, by an essay titled “Varieties of the infinite,” which included a photograph and short biographical sketch of Georg Cantor, and a brief introduction to his theory of the infinite.