The Mathematical World of Charles L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is best known for his ‘Alice’ books, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, written under his pen-name of Lewis Carroll. He is also remembered as a pioneer of Victorian photography. But his everyday job was a lecturer in Mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford University. What mathematics did he do? How good a mathematician was he? And how influential was his work, both at the time and since? This book investigates these questions by outlining his mathematical life, describing in an accessible way his writings in geometry, algebra, logic, the theory of voting, and recreational mathematics, and discussing his mathematical legacy. There is also a full mathematical bibliography of Dodgson’s mathematical publications. This is the first academic work that collects the research on Dodgson’s wide-ranging mathematical achievements into a single accessible volume, and is written by acknowledged world experts on these activities. Much material is collected here for the first time, including the results of recent research. It has been carefully edited and is presented in an introductory and accessible form with many illustrations, both explanatory and historical. Expected to become the standard work on the subject, it should be of great interest to anyone interested in Lewis Carroll, Oxford, Victorian Britain, or mathematics.