is the first in a series of math-themed young adult novels of the same name by Japanese author Hiroshi Yuki. It was published by SoftBank Creative in 2007, followed by Math Girls: Fermat's Last Theorem in 2008, Math Girls: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems in 2009, and Math Girls: Randomized Algorithms in 2011. As of December 2010, the series had sold over 100,000 books in Japan. On November 23, 2011, an English translation of the book was released by Bento Books, who subsequently released translations of Fermat's Last Theorem () and Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems () on December 5, 2012, and April 25, 2016, respectively.
Overview
The unnamed narrator and his schoolmates Miruka and Tetra are Japanese high school students with an interest in mathematics. Together they explore the world of mathematics by helping each other solve problems spanning a wide range of difficulty, from extensions of high school mathematics to extremely difficult problems previously addressed by famous mathematicians. While the book is presented as a novel, the bulk of its content is related to finding the solution to complex math problems, so could also be considered a form of textbook.
Synopsis
At the start of his first year of high school, the narrator meets a new classmate, a girl named Miruka. Without introducing herself, she gives him the beginning to number sequences, to which he answers with their continuation. One year later, the narrator is handed a letter by another girl, a new student named Tetra. The letter she wrote is a request for the narrator to tutor her in math. He begins teaching her, making Miruka jealous. The narrator balances his friendship with Tetra and his romantic interest in Miruka until Miruka and Tetra become friends after Tetra demonstrates her dedication to learning mathematics.
Characters
Main characters
The narrator
The protagonist of the books. The story in each book is told from his perspective. He is a second year student in a Japanese high school (equivalent to 11th grade in the US school system). His name is not given throughout the series. During middle school, he spent his time after school working on mathematics in the library. He begins to repeat this pattern in high school, but as his friendship with Miruka and Tetra develop he spends most of his time working on math problems with them. Other than the fact that he wears glasses, his physical characteristics are not described. He has a quiet personality, but is somewhat self-conscious of his mathematical ability as compared to Miruka and Tetra, and when he has difficulty solving a math problem he tends to become depressed. He is very conscious of Miruka and Tetra as potential love interests, but is too shy to initiate a relationship with either one. He acts as both a teacher and a student, at times working on problems given to him by Miruka or Mr. Muraki, at other times teaching Tetra. He does not like to speak before large groups of people, but he is not hesitant to speak up when teaching Tetra and Miruka.