A "Novel" Use for Mathematica
Cryptonomicon Author Neal Stephenson Uses Mathematica
to Illustrate Best-Selling Book
Wolfram Research's Mathematica has been put to
many novel uses, and now author Neal Stephenson has put it to use in a
novel. Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, highly praised New
York Times bestseller, includes several calculations and
diagrams produced by the author with Mathematica.
Cryptonomicon is a tale set in World War II England and today's
Southeast Asia, and it is saturated with information describing the
relationship between computers and cryptanalysis. Stephenson has
earned himself a reputation as a writer particularly attuned to
silicon--"a powerful voice of the cyber age," as USA TODAY wrote.
He has also gathered a strong following among the computer literate.
Stephenson used Mathematica to perform calculations appearing
in the book and also to create several charts and
diagrams. One series of diagrams involved generating the profile of a
mountain in cross section; Stephenson programmed Mathematica to
generate an appropriate fractal curve.
Stephenson shares one other affinity with Mathematica: they both grew
up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
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