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Fundamental approach to discrete mathematics 2ed.
Edition D.P. Acharjya Digital Instant Download
Author(s): D.P. Acharjya, Kumar Sree
ISBN(s): 9788122426076, 8122426077
Edition: 2ed.
File Details: PDF, 3.80 MB
Year: 2009
Language: english
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Visit us at www.newagepublishers.com
Dedicated to our Beloved Parents
D.P. Acharjya / Sreekumar
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 Preface to the Second Edition

It is our great pleasure to put forth the second edition of our book “Fundamental
Approach to Discrete Mathematics”. This edition is an outcome of the numerous feedback
received from students and teachers who had welcomed the first edition. The major
change in the second edition of this book is the addition of a new chapter on Generating
Function and Recurrence Relation, Combinatorics, and Fuzzy Set Theory. These chapters
have been introduced because we think these areas are very interesting and application
oriented. The typographical errors and omissions, which were there in the first edition, are
taken care of in this edition.
We continued our effort to keep the book student-friendly. By a problem solving
approach, we mean that students learn the material through problem-type illustrative
examples that provide the motivation behind the concepts and its relation to the theorems
and definitions. At the same time, students must discover a solution for the non-trivial
aspect of the solution. In such an approach, homework exercises contribute to a major part
of the learning process. We have kept the same approach for the newly introduced
chapters. We trust and hope that the new edition of the book will help to further
illustrate the relevance of the discrete mathematics.
While writing we have referred to several books and journals, we take this opportunity
to thank all those authors and publishers. Besides those thanked in the preface of the first
edition, we are also thankful to S. Dehuri, B.D. Sahoo and A. Mitra for their constant
motivation and contributions in this edition. We are extremely thankful to the editorial
and production team of New Age International (P) Ltd. for encouraging us for the second
edition and extending their cooperation and help in timely completion of this book.
Constructive criticism and suggestions for further improvement of the book is warmly
welcomed. Feel free to mail us in [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]

D.P. Acharjya
Sreekumar
 This page
intentionally left
blank
 Preface to the First Edition

Discrete Mathematics, the study of finite systems, remains at the heart of any
contemporary study of computer science, which is a need of every student to attain
mathematical maturity and ability to deal with abstraction, algorithms and graphs. Our
intention in writing this book is to offer fundamental concepts and methods of discrete
mathematics in a precise and clear manner. The objective of writing this book is to
provide the students of computer science and information technology the fundamental
mathematical basis required to achieve indepth knowledge in the field of computer science.
It will also help the students, who have interest in mathematics, to keep insight into
mathematical techniques and their importance in real life applications.
This book is intended for one semester introductory course in discrete mathematics.
The book is also useful for the students of BE (Computer Science/IT), B.Tech. (Computer
Science/IT), MCA and M.Sc. (Computer Science). The material in this book includes
fundamental concepts, figures, tables, exercises and solved examples to guide the reader
in mastering introductory discrete mathematics.
A discrete mathematics course has many objectives that students should learn the
essentials of mathematics and how to think mathematically. To achieve these objectives,
we emphasized on mathematical reasoning and problem solving techniques in this book.
Each chapter begins with a clear statement of definitions, principles and theorems with
illustrative and other descriptive materials. This is followed by sets of solved examples
and exercises. The solved examples help to illustrate and amplify the material. This has
been done to make the book more flexible and to stimulate further interest in topics.
Once basic mathematical concepts have been developed then more complex material and
applications are presented.
The mathematical topics to be discussed are mathematical logic, set theory, binary
relation, function, algebraic structure such as group theory and ring theory, boolean
algebra, graph theory and introduction to lattices. Although many excellent books exist in
this area, we introduce this topic still keeping in mind that the reader will use them in
practical applications related to computer science and information technology. It is hoped
that the theoretical concepts present in this book will permit a student to understand
most of the fundamental concepts. The text is designed that the students who do not have
a strong background in discrete mathematics will find it is very useful to begin with and
x Preface to the First Edition
the students with an exposure to discrete mathematics will also find the book very useful
as some of exercises given are thought provoking and help them for application building.
We have the unique opportunity to express our deepest sense of gratitude to Prof.
S. Nanda, NIT, Rourkela; Prof. B.K. Tripathy, Berhampur University, Prof. G.N. Patel,
Sambalpur University and Dr. Md. N. Khan, IGIT, Sarang for their effective guidance,
sincere advise and valuable suggestions during the project work and thereby inspired us
to take up an interesting and challenging project like this. We acknowledge to Prof.
Sourya Pattnaik, Director, Rourkela Institute of Management Studies (RIMS), Rourkela
who motivated and guided us in this project. We would like to acknowledge the
contribution of many people, who have helped to bring this project successful.
In certainty, no technical book can be claimed as the product of its authors alone. We
are pleased to acknowledge here the contributions of several colleagues who have had a
major influence in this book and the course from which it arose. We shall be grateful to
the readers for pointing out errors and omissions that, in spite of all care, might have
crept in. We shall be delighted if this book is accepted and appreciated by the scholars of
today.
You can e-mail your comments to [email protected]; [email protected]
or [email protected] .
At last but not the least we express our heartfelt thanks to M/s New Age International
(P) Ltd, Publishers, New Delhi, for the cooperation and publication with high accuracy.

D.P. Acharjya
Sreekumar
 Contents

Preface v
List of Symbols xvii

1. Mathematical Logic 1–17

1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Statement (Proposition) 1
1.2 Logical Connectives 2
1.3 Conditional 3
1.4 Bi-Conditional 4
1.5 Converse 5
1.6 Inverse 5
1.7 Contra Positive 5
1.8 Exclusive OR 6
1.9 NAND 6
1.10 NOR 6
1.11 Tautology 7
1.12 Contradiction 7
1.13 Satisfiable 7
1.14 Duality Law 8
1.15 Algebra of Propositions 8
1.16 Mathematical Induction 8
Solved Examples 9
Exercises 15

2. Set Theory 19 – 40
2.0 Introduction 19
2.1 Sets 19
xii Contents
2.2 Types of Sets 20
2.3 Cardinality of a Set 21
2.4 Subset and Superset 22
2.5 Comparability of Sets 23
2.6 Power Set 23
2.7 Operations on Sets 23
2.8 Disjoint Sets 28
2.9 Application of Set Theory 28
2.10 Product of Sets 29
2.11 Fundamental Products 30
Solved Examples 30
Exercises 39
3. Binary Relation 41–68
3.0 Introduction 41
3.1 Binary Relation 41
3.2 Inverse Relation 42
3.3 Graph of Relation 43
3.4 Kinds of Relation 44
3.5 Arrow Diagram 45
3.6 Void Relation 45
3.7 Identity Relation 45
3.8 Universal Relation 46
3.9 Relation Matrix (Matrix of the Relation) 46
3.10 Composition of Relations 46
3.11 Types of Relations 48
3.12 Types of Relations and Relation Matrix 50
3.13 Equivalence Relation 52
3.14 Partial Order Relation 53
3.15 Total Order Relation 54
3.16 Closures of Relations 55
3.17 Equivalence Classes 56
3.18 Partitions 57
Solved Examples 58
Exercises 66
4. Function 69 – 92
4.0 Introduction 69
4.1 Function 69
4.2 Equality of Functions 71
4.3 Types of Function 71
4.4 Graph of Function 72
 Contents xiii
4.5 Composition of Functions 74
4.6 Inverse Function 76
4.7 Some Important Functions 77
4.8 Hash Function 79
Solved Examples 80
Exercises 89
5. Generating Function and Recurrence Relation 93–140
5.0 Introduction 93
5.1 Generating Functions 93
5.2 Partitions of Integers 95
5.3 Recurrence Relations 97
5.4 Models of Recurrence Relation 97
5.5 Linear Recurrence Relation with Constant Coefficients 100
5.6 Different Methods of Solution 101
5.7 Homogeneous Solutions 102
5.8 Particular Solution 104
5.9 Total Solution 105
5.10 Solution by Generating Function 105
5.11 Analysis of the Algorithms 106
Solved Examples 112
Exercises 136
6. Combinatorics 141–171
6.0 Introduction 141
6.1 Fundamental Principle of Counting 141
6.2 Factorial Notation 142
6.3 Permutation 142
6.4 Combination 144
6.5 The Binomial Theorem 147
6.6 Binomial Theorem for Rational Index 150
6.7 The Catalan Numbers 151
6.8 Ramsey Number 153
Solved Examples 155
Exercises 168
7. Group Theory 173–197
7.0 Introduction 173
7.1 Binary Operation on a Set 173
7.2 Algebraic Structure 173
7.3 Group 174
7.4 Subgroup 178
xiv Contents
7.5 Cyclic Group 181
7.6 Cosets 183
7.7 Homomorphism 183
Solved Examples 184
Exercises 197
8. Codes and Group Codes 199–204
8.0 Introduction 199
8.1 Terminologies 199
8.2 Error Correction 200
8.3 Group Codes 200
8.4 Weight of Code Word 200
8.5 Distance Between the Code Words 200
8.6 Error Correction for Block Code 201
8.7 Cosets 202
Solved Examples 202
Exercises 204
9. Ring Theory 205–226
9.0 Introduction 205
9.1 Ring 205
9.2 Special Types of Ring 207
9.3 Ring without Zero Divisor 209
9.4 Integral Domain 209
9.5 Division Ring 209
9.6 Field 209
9.7 The Pigeonhole Principle 211
9.8 Characteristics of a Ring 211
9.9 Sub Ring 213
9.10 Homomorphism 213
9.11 Kernel of Homomorphism of Ring 215
9.12 Isomorphism 215
Solved Examples 216
Exercises 225
10. Boolean Algebra 227–253
10.0 Introduction 227
10.1 Gates 227
10.2 More Logic Gates 229
10.3 Combinatorial Circuit 231
10.4 Boolean Expression 232
10.5 Equivalent Combinatorial Circuits 233
 Contents xv
10.6 Boolean Algebra 234
10.7 Dual of a Statement 237
10.8 Boolean Function 238
10.9 Various Normal Forms 239
Solved Examples 240
Exercises 249
11. Introduction to Lattices 255–267
11.0 Introduction 255
11.1 Lattices 255
11.2 Hasse Diagram 256
11.3 Principle of Duality 257
11.4 Distributive Lattice 259
11.5 Bounded Lattice 261
11.6 Complemented Lattice 262
11.7 Some Special Lattices 263
Solved Examples 263
Exercises 266
12. Graph Theory 269–308
12.0 Introduction 269
12.1 Graph 270
12.2 Kinds of Graph 271
12.3 Digraph 272
12.4 Weighted Graph 272
12.5 Degree of a Vertex 273
12.6 Path 273
12.7 Complete Graph 274
12.8 Regular Graph 274
12.9 Cycle 274
12.10 Pendant Vertex 275
12.11 Acyclic Graph 275
12.12 Matrix Representation of Graphs 276
12.13 Connected Graph 279
12.14 Graph Isomorphism 280
12.15 Bipartite Graph 280
12.16 Subgraph 281
12.17 Walks 282
12.18 Operations on Graphs 283
12.19 Fusion of Graphs 285
Solved Examples 289
Exercises 303
xvi Contents
13. Tree 309 – 347
13.0 Introduction 309
13.1 Tree 309
13.2 Fundamental Terminologies 310
13.3 Binary Tree 311
13.4 Bridge 312
13.5 Distance and Eccentricity 313
13.6 Central Point and Centre 314
13.7 Spanning Tree 315
13.8 Searching Algorithms 317
13.9 Shortest Path Algorithms 321
13.10 Cut Vertices 323
13.11 Euler Graph 324
13.12 Hamiltonian Path 326
13.13 Closure of a Graph 326
13.14 Travelling Salesman Problem 327
Solved Examples 328
Exercises 343
14. Fuzzy Set Theory 349 –372
14.0 Introduction 349
14.1 Fuzzy Versus Crisp 349
14.2 Fuzzy Sets 350
14.3 Basic Definitions 352
14.4 Basic Operations on Fuzzy Sets 355
14.5 Properties of Fuzzy Sets 357
14.6 Interval Valued Fuzzy Set 358
14.7 Operations on i-v Fuzzy Sets 359
14.8 Fuzzy Relations 360
14.9 Operations on Fuzzy Relations 362
14.10 Fuzzy Logic 364
Solved Examples 366
Exercises 371
References 373– 380
Index 381–386
 List of Symbols

Mathematical Logic P(A) : power set of A

(P ∧ Q) : P and Q A7B : A union B
(P ∨ Q) : P or Q A1B : A intersection B
¬P : negation of P A–B : set difference
P→Q : if P, then Q A⊕B : set symmetric difference
P↔Q : P if and only if Q A∆B : set symmetric difference
P Ac : complement of A
∨ Q : P exclusive or Q
P↑Q : P NAND Q A : complement of A
P↓Q : P NOR Q A' : complement of A
P≡Q : P and Q are logically n(A) : number of distinct elements
equivalent of A.
A×B : Cartesian product of A and B
Set Theory (x, y) : Order pair
(x1, x2, x3, ..., xn) : n-tuple of x1, x2, x3, ..., xn
{a, b, c, d} : set containing the elements
a, b, c, d. n
7 Ai : union of A1, A2, A3, ..., An
x∈A : x is an element of A i=1
x∉A : x is not an element of A
n
{x  P(x)} : P(x) is the property that des- 1 Ai : intersection of A1, A2, A3, ..., An
cribes the elements x of a set. i= 1
φ : null set
: cardinality of A
Binary Relation
A
xRy : (x, y) ∈ R i.e., [ x is related to y]
A≈B : A similar to B (A and B contain-
x R/ y : (x, y) ∉ R i.e., [ x is not related
ing equal number of elements)
to y]
A⊆B : A is a subset of B D(R) : domain of the relation R
A=B : set equality (A and B have same dom. R : domain of the relation R
elements)
R(R) : range of the relation R
A ⊂B : A is a proper subset of B rng. R : range of the relation R
A⊄B : A is not a subset of B R–1 : inverse of the relation R
A≠B : A and B are not equal IA : identity relation
NLEEE List of Symbols
M(R) : matrix of the relation R. 2
θ(n2) : theta of n .
R1R2 : composition of relations lgn : logarithm to the base 2 of n
R1 and R2 lg2 : logarithm to the base 2 of 2
r(R) : reflexive closure of the
relation R Combinatorics
s(R) : symmetric closure of the
n! : factorial of a natural number n
relation R
P(n, r) : permutation of r elements out
t(R) : transitive closure of the
relation R of n elements
[x] : equivalence class containing x. C(n, r) : combination of r elements out
of n elements
Function c(x) : generating function for the
f : A → Β : function from A to B Catalan numbers
R(f) : range of a function f Tr+1 : general term in the binomial
expansion.
f(x) : value assigned to x
g f : composition of f and g Cn : nth Catalan number
° R(m, n) : Ramsey number
gf : composition of f and g
f –1 : inverse function
Group Theory
|x| : absolute value function
(a ° b) : a binary operation b
[x] : greatest integer function
(A, °) : algebraic structure
 x : floor function
O(G) : order of the group G [number of
 x : ceiling function
elements of G]
χA : characteristic function of A O(a) : order of an element a
Ry (x) : remainder function aH : left coset of H in G
sgn (x) : signum function Ha : right coset of H in G
H(n) : hash function
Codes and Group Codes
Generating Function and Recurrence
(G, ⊕) : group code
Relation
ω(X) : weight of the code word X
G(x) : generating function for the d(X, Y) : distance between two code
sequence of real numbers
words X and Y
a0, a1, a2, ... , an, ...
P(Xi|Y) : probability that Χ i is
E(x) : exponential generating function
transmitted when the received
P(n) : partition function [number of word is Y
partitions of an integer n] (G ⊕ y) : coset with respect y where (G, ⊕)
s nh : homogeneous solution to the is a group code and y is a word
linear difference equation
Ring Theory
s np : particular solution to the linear
difference equation Zp : commutative ring
snh + snp : total solution to the linear Ch(R) : characteristic of a ring
difference equation I(φ) : the kernel of homomorphism
 List of Symbols NEN
Boolean Algebra Kn : complete graph with n vertices
A[a ij] : adjacency matrix of the graph G
: NOT gate (inverter)
I[ai j] : incidence matrix of the graph G
P[pi j] : path matrix of the graph G
: AND gate
(G1 7 G2) : union of two graphs and
: OR gate G1 and G2
(G1 1 G2) : intersection of two graphs and
: NAND gate G1 and G2
G : complement of the graph G
: NOR gate (G1 × G2) : product of graphs and
G1 and G2
: XOR gate G1[G2] : composition of two graphs and
G1 and G2
: XNOR gate
Tree
x' : not x d(u, v) : distance between two vertices
x : not x u and v
(x1 ∧ x2) : x1 and x2 e(v) : eccentricity of the vertex v
(x1 ∨ x2) : x1 or x2 rad (G) : radius of the graph G
(x1 ⊕ x2) : exclusive-OR of x1 and x2 diam (G) : diameter of the graph G
{S, ∧, ∨, ′, 0, 1}: Boolean algebra BFS : Breadth First Search
f : Bn → B : Boolean function if DFS : Depth First Search
f (x1, x2, ..., xn) = X (x1, x2, ..., xn) C(G) : closure of graph G

Introduction to Lattices Fuzzy Set Theory

L.U.B : least upper bound 
A : fuzzy set of the universe of
G.L.B : greatest lower bound discourse X
(a ∨ b) : join of a and b µ A (x) : X → [0, 1] : membership function

of A
(a ∧ b) : meet of a and b
D(n) : set of all positive divisors of n A =B  : equality of fuzzy sets
a|b : a divides b  ⊆B
A  : containment

Graph Theory  : Support of a fuzzy set

Support  A
G(V, E) : graph with finite set of vertices Aα : α-level cut
V and a finite set of edges E 
k .A : product of a fuzzy set by a
|V| : order of graph G crisp number
|E| : size of graph G Am : m power of a fuzzy set
degree (v) : degree of the vertex v CON : concentration
e = (u, v) : edge of a graph DIL : dilation
w(e) : weight of the edge e A 7B
 : union of fuzzy sets
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Ultimate
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ULTIMATE

IMAGE ***
THE ULTIMATE IMAGE
 By P. SCHUYLER MILLER

The Magnificent Defense Unit of Dampier.

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

Comet December 40.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"Mike!"
It was Bill Porter's voice. I put one hand on the balustrade and
vaulted into the garden. From behind a mass of shrubbery came
sounds of a struggle, and Bill's voice rose again.
"Mike, you ape! Step on it!"
I plowed through where someone had gone before. Bill, his
shirtfront awry, his coat-tails torn and muddy, was grappling with a
snarling, kicking little man about half his size. As I burst out of the
shrubbery, Bill kicked his legs from under him and they went down in
the newly spaded earth, Bill on top. Bill Porter weighs a good two
hundred pounds. The struggle ended then and there.
Bill sat up, one fist clenched in the little man's shirt front. He glared
at me out of a rapidly closing eye.
"Where in blue blazes have you been?" he demanded. "D'you think I
like wrestling with wildcats?"
I looked him over. "Didn't make out so well, did you? Lucky he
wasn't any bigger, or I would have had to help you. Why pick on a
little guy like that? What's he done that you don't like?"
He pointed. Light from the reception hall fell through the bushes in
irregular patches. In one of them, half buried in the scuffed-up dirt, I
caught the glint of polished metal.
"Pick it up," Bill said.
It was a gun, bigger than the largest six-shooter ever toted by a
Hollywood buckaroo. It had a massive stock and the thickest barrel I
had ever seen. The whole look of the thing was crazy, like something
out of another world.
Bill had been scrambling around in the dirt. I saw that blood was
oozing from a gash in his neck. Before I could speak he held up a
piece of gleaming metal.
"Take a look at that," he said grimly. "That's what he wanted to
pump into the Ambassador. Only I got it instead—in the neck. Now
will you give me a hand with this he-cat before he comes to and
starts trying to skin me alive?"
I took the thing. It was a steel bolt or arrow of the kind once used in
cross-bows, sharpened to a needle point with six razor-edged vanes
running back to the hilt. I slipped it into the chubby muzzle of the
gun. It was a perfect fit.
"That," Bill told me, "is a solenoid-gun—one that works. You've seen
a metal core pop out of an electric coil when the juice is snapped on.
It's a common laboratory stunt. Well, it's grown up and had pups,
and this is one of the nastiest of them. No noise at all—and does
that dart travel! It would go through a man like cheese even if he's
as thick as His Magnificence yonder."
Through the open doors of the reception hall I could see the broad
Teutonic back of Herr Wilhelm Friedrich Nebel, Ambassador from the
newly stabilized Middle-European Confederacy. Half the stuffed shirts
in Washington were crowded around him, trying to make themselves
heard over the blare of the band and I recognized three of the
President's own private bodyguards. I knew that there were Secret
Service men posted all over the grounds to forestall this very thing,
yet in spite of them this little man with the outlandish gun had crept
within fifty feet of his goal. Had he picked them off, one by one, with
his silent darts?
The man was stirring. Bill had him now in a grip that would take
more than wildcat tactics to break. I parted the bushes so that a
shaft of light fell on his face. Surely I knew that forked beard, those
piercing black eyes, the shock of bristling hair. Suddenly I
remembered. "Bill! It's Dampier!"
Pierre Dampier, France's greatest physicist, the confrere of Einstein
and Heisenberg and Poincare, who had dropped out of sight so
mysteriously five years before. Dampier here, in Washington, sniping
at the Middle-European Ambassador with an electric gun!
The little man was staring at me with those beady eyes. For a
moment I thought he would deny it. Then his face changed. The
fury, the madness went out of it and were replaced by a great
weariness that made him seem years older. He slumped in Bill's
grasp, then stiffened proudly.
"Yes, gentlemen," he admitted. "Pierre Dampier, at your service."
This was no ordinary assassination. Big as the news was, Dampier
made it bigger. And news was what Bill and I were here for.
"Bill," I said, "this is our story. No one else even suspects it. Are you
going to turn him over to the police or do we get the whole yarn,
ourselves, first?"
He nodded. "You're right," he agreed. "We'll never get it if we let
him go now. Washington has a way of hushing those things up." He
turned to the little Frenchman. "Monsieur Dampier we are
newspaper men, we two. There's a reason for what you tried to do
tonight, a good reason, or you wouldn't have attempted it. Will you
tell us that reason, and let us explain to the world why the great
Pierre Dampier has chosen to play the role of a common murderer?"
Dampier stiffened. The forked beard was thrust stiffly forward and
the thin shoulders squared in spite of Bill's numbing grip. "I am no
murderer!" he hissed. "Wilhelm Nebel is the enemy of my country
and of yours—of the world! I stood in his way, and I was crushed. I
rose again, and he has found me and tried to grind me under his
accursed heel! He will kill me, if I do not kill him first. I implore you,
Monsieur, let me go! Let me finish what I have begun. The world will
be better for it, and"—a whimsical smile twisted his thin lips—"it will
be a greater coup for you, will it not?"
Bill was studying him. "We can't do that," he replied, "even if we
wanted to. Herr Nebel is our country's guest. But this I will do. Give
me your word that you will make no further attempt on Herr Nebel's
life for twenty-four hours, tell us why you have done this thing, and
I'll let you go. I'll give you one hour's start, and then I'll tell the
police the whole story. Is it a bargain?"
Dampier bowed his head. "You have my word, Monsieur. I will tell
you everything. But when you have heard what I will say, perhaps
you will not wish to call your police. Shall we go to my laboratory?
We can talk more freely there."
Bill's grip tightened. "Wait! This garden was guarded. Have you killed
those men? Because if you have all bets are off!"
The little Frenchman smiled. "But no, Monsieur. I have no quarrel
with your countrymen. There are other missiles for this little toy of
mine—hollow needles filled with a certain rare drug like the 'mercy
bullets' of your American sportsmen. They will sleep soundly for
some hours yet, and have what you call the big hangover when they
awaken but that is all. Shall we go now? It is late, and I have much
to tell you."
The whole idea looked screwy to me. Even now I'm not sure that it
wasn't. But when Bill Porter makes up his mind, it would take
Gabriel's trumpet to change it. He was quite capable of plumping
one of Dampier's little needles into me and going off with the
Frenchman alone.
"I'll get the car," I said. "Let's get out of here before someone
stumbles over a corpse and yells for the cops."
We were somewhere in the middle of Maryland before Bill let me
slow down. He must have had a talk with Dampier while I was
getting the car, for the little Frenchman never peeped until we
swung into a narrow dirt road somewhere north of Frederick. He
called the next turn, and the next, until I began to suspect that he
was running us around in circles. At last we pulled up before a
deserted farm-house, set back from the road behind a dilapidated
picket fence. Bill nudged me. Silhouetted against the stars were the
towers of a high-tension line. Dampier was either stealing or buying
power in a big way.
Now a French gentleman's word is supposed to be about as good as
Finland's credit, but we were taking no chances. I remembered that
wicked little dart with its razor-edged barbs, and I felt pretty sure
that Bill hadn't forgotten it either. We lined up, one on each side of
him, and marched across the weed-grown lawn to the rickety side
porch. There was a Yale lock on the door, and as Dampier swung it
open I saw that it was backed with steel armor-plate. Outside the
house might look like the poorer section of Bilded Road, but inside it
was built like a fortress. Six-inch concrete walls, steel doors, indirect
lighting and ventilation—it looked as though Monsieur Pierre
Dampier had been expecting to stand a pretty heavy siege.
A winding stair went down through the floor into a basement room
that ran under the entire house. Dampier led the way, Bill followed,
and I came last. Probably our science editor could have made
something of what Dampier had in that buried room. I couldn't. I
wouldn't even have known where to begin photographing it, if the
Leica hadn't been back on the terrace at the Embassy where I'd
dropped it to vault over the rail into Bill's little shambles, and the
Graflex somewhere in the back of the car.
To begin with, he was drawing more current than any ten men I'd
ever seen, and I've covered some of the atom-busting at M.I.T. and
the lightning shop at Pittsfield. It all went into two huge buss-bars,
that ran across to a kind of cage of interlacing copper loops,
standing in the center of the room. They were hung from jointed
supports that rose above an insulated block or platform of bakelite,
with most of the bulkier apparatus inside out of sight, but I had a
hunch that whatever was going to happen would take place in, at,
and around those spidery coils.
One corner of the room was a kind of office with a desk and books,
and a couple of ancient chairs. Dampier waved Bill and me into them
and began to pace up and down in front of us like an expectant
father. The wild glint had come back into his eyes, but I've seen
enough of scientists to know that that isn't necessarily fatal. Most
scientists are half nuts anyway. Bill and I never agreed on that point.
You see, before Bill became a demon reporter, he was the white
hope of American science. That's how I met him, trying to cover
something I couldn't understand and didn't much want to. He fixed
my story up for me, and chiseled in on the season's juiciest murder
scandal in return. I came down with a bad case of busted cranium,
as a result of following his hunches a little too far, and he wrote my
scoop for me. After that it stuck. I claimed then they should have
made him science editor, but old Medford is our owner's nephew or
something, and besides he's pretty good. Anyway, Bill wouldn't take
a desk job. It seems he'd always wanted to feel the pulse of Life—
Dampier's English was good. He'd been educated in England and the
United States. But when he got excited he fairly surpassed himself
and became heart-breakingly colloquial. Where most foreigners
would have broken down into their mother-tongue, he relapsed into
gutter slang or worse. I've left that out. It doesn't read as well as it
sounds, and besides, nice old ladies like to read these magazines. If
only they knew the truth—the real inside truth about some of the
yarns that have been told in these pages! I've seen the originals—
things that a newspaper wouldn't print for fear of being laughed out
of a year's circulation—and with proofs! They happen, believe me.
Only I'd never been in one before.
Dampier began with true professional dignity. "Gentlemen," he said,
"you have treated me honorably. I shall do the same to you. I shall
tell you all! When I am finished, judge then if I have done right to
assassinate this monster of the devil!
"Monsieur Crandall recognized in me that Pierre Dampier who
vanished from the world of science five years ago. It was Wilhelm
Nebel who made me to flee like the wild goose. Nebel—the chief of
munitions, the millionaire, the so great diplomat, whose hands reach
out to every country, regardless of boundaries or the hatred of
races. Even in France I was not safe! The finger of Nebel was in the
pie of our government. He twisted it—poof! Spies of the police
investigate me. They ask questions. They give me the degrees. But I
tell them nothing. They can find nothing. It is all here—here in the
grey material!" He tapped his bristling skull. "And when they have
gone, I take my books, my papers, what money I can get, and take
it on the lam to these United States!"
He stopped for breath and glared at us triumphantly. "I scram," he
repeated. "I vanish from the sight of men. Here I am Leon the
retired hair-dresser, the man with the big radio. Pierre Dampier is
forgotten. But not by the accursed Nebel!
"Here in America is a free country where only the dogs, the
automobiles, the husbands must have licenses. There are no foolish
papers to carry about, no questions to answer to the police. I can
hide like a rat in the mousecheese, and be safe. But not from this
son-of-an-unpardonableness Nebel! His men are everywhere. He
sees everything. Only here I can protect myself. Here I can kill
before I am killed!
"But I see in your eye that I am beating about the gas-works,
Monsieur. What is it that the old man Dampier has wrested from
Nature, that is of so great value to the famous Nebel? What is the
secret for which he has lammed himself here to hide like a flea in
the chemise of your charming Maryland? Why is he willing to sail
down the great river, to fry on the heated seat, so long as Nebel
shall die? I will tell you, gentlemen!"
He drew himself up to every inch of his five feet two. He thrust out a
pipe-stem arm and pointed an accusing finger at the mechanism
that squatted in the middle of the floor.
"There, gentlemen, is the weapon that will make France supreme!
The instrument of defense that makes offense impossible! The
weapon that will end war!"
We looked at him, and at it, and at each other. It didn't look like the
sort of thing you'd lug out on a battlefield to chase the enemy away.
It had even less resemblance to the kind of fortress that I'd heard
France was building along the Middle-European border. I began to
wonder if, after all, that glint in Dampier's eyes was the holy light of
pure science.
"What is it?" Bill asked.
The little Frenchman's chest pushed out until his vest-buttons
creaked. Then he zipped forward, his rat's eyes darting from side to
side, and hissed in our ears:
"It is total reflection!"
That left me cold, but it didn't Bill. I could see that he had a
glimmering of an understanding of what went on, but he was
puzzled as to the why, what and how. "How d'you mean?" he asked.
"We have total internal reflection in prisms. That's no weapon—or
defense either, unless you're figuring on Nebel's crowd developing a
death-ray or something like that for the next war."
Dampier chuckled. It was about as self-satisfied a chuckle as I've
heard. "Death-rays—maybe. I do not care. Bullets, shells, bombs, I
tell you nothing, nothing can break through the barrier of total
reflection! And it is a weapon as well, to turn the enemy's own
strength against him."
Bill was sitting up straight in his chair. "Tell me about it," he said
softly.
Dampier wriggled and seemed to settle down like a statue on his
two spread legs. Only from the waist up was he alive, talking volubly
with both hands and that wagging beard.
"It is simple," he explained. "From the beginning of time, what has
been the first defense of mankind? It is the wall, the barrier which
the enemy cannot climb, cannot break, cannot penetrate with their
weapons. A wall of thorns against the beasts of the darkness. A
boulder rolled in the mouth of a cave. Walls of sharpened stakes, of
earth and stone, of human flesh and blood! Walls of fire laid down
by giant guns. Walls of poisonous vapors through which no living
thing can pass. Always a wall, stronger and stronger, but never
perfect. I, Pierre Dampier, have made the perfect wall!
"Look, Monsieur—you have spoken of the reflecting prism. All light
that falls on it at the proper angle is diverted, turned back. Walls of
steel and concrete, such as I have here about me, will repel the
bullets of powerful rifles, the shells of small guns, like the little balls
of ping-pong. All these things will protect me from the weapons of
my enemies—but they are not perfect. They are not total reflection!
"Look you, again. Always there is some ray that will be of the
improper angle, the too great or too small wavelength. Always there
is some shell that will batter its way through my walls and kill me.
But if I can find a mirror that will turn back all rays, a wall from
which all projectiles will rebound, a shield against all the many forces
of Nature and of man—then, Monsieur, I have the perfect defense
and the perfect weapon!
"See this little mirror in my hand. I flash in your eyes a beam of light
—so. You are blinded, no? And if this is not light, but a ray of death
that you have hurled against my mirror, it kills you—is it not so? If it
is a bullet that you shoot at me, it recoils and strikes you down. If it
is a bomb, it is thrown back into your trenches, to kill your men. If it
is a great force of pressure or attraction, it is diverted, reversed, and
it strikes at you while I am safe behind my perfect wall."
Bill was on his feet with that mulish look he has when he's sure he's
right. "It's impossible!" he snapped. "No metal can reflect all
wavelengths. No substance can resist a force greater than those
which created it and hold it together. As for magnetism, gravitation,
they're space-warp forces. Things can't stop them. Sorry we're not in
the market for Sunday features today, and I rather doubt that Herr
Nebel is. You've got brains—I'll grant you that. You have some
energy source in the handle of that little gun of yours that would
turn industry up on its tail overnight. I haven't the slightest doubt in
the world that you may have blasted the atom wide open and made
it sit up and beg. But there's no substance, known or unknown, that
will do what you claim, and there never will be. If you have no
objections, Monsieur, we will be on our way, and in exactly one hour
I will call the police. Au revoir, Monsieur."
Dampier was hopping from one foot to the other like a hen on ice.
"No, no, no, Monsieur!" he cried. "You have not heard all! You must
lend another ear! There is no substance that will reflect all things;
that is true. Only a fool would believe it. But what of a wall that has
no substance—that has no existence in what we call reality but that
is as fixed and unshakable as the roots of the universe—a wall, a
discontinuity of Space itself?"
Bill stopped halfway up the stairs. "Say that again," he demanded.
The little Frenchman's hands went winging out in hopeless
resignation. "There are no words! One does not explain the theories
of Dirac and Schroedinger in words. There are symbols—the logic of
symbols—that can be translated at last into reality that men can see,
but there are no words for the things that are born and live only
here, in the head, in the think-box. It is here, in these symbols, on
these sheets of paper. It is there, in that apparatus which you see.
But it is not in words."
Bill wasn't being stopped now. He lives words. "You mean," he said,
"that you've hit on a condition of Space—maybe a discontinuity of
some kind—that has the property of absolute total reflection? It will
reflect all radiations one hundred per cent. Any material body will
bounce off without making the slightest impression. Every force
exerted on it is turned back on itself—even space-forces like
gravitation and magnetism. And you can create that condition at will.
Is that what you mean?"
Dampier's black eyes fairly spit sparks. "That is it, Monsieur," he
cried. "You have said it with a full mouth! My wall, my zone as I
have called it, will reflect completely all things, although it is itself a
nothing, without existence in our universe. It lives in the symbols of
mathematics, and I have just this day completed the apparatus
which will give these symbols reality—which will create the zone as I
desire it, in any shape or size. I will show you, and you will believe.
And then we shall see about Herr Wilhelm Nebel and his makers of
wars!"
Bill frowned. "Dampier, give me those equations. I've got to puzzle
this thing out for myself, follow your argument through on paper. Is
there any place where I can be quiet?"
"But of course, Monsieur. There, in the room for thermal work,
everything will be perfectly quiet. Here are the papers, and while
you read, I shall show Monsieur Crandall the working of the works."
But Bill didn't hear that last. The heavy door of the constant
temperature room had closed behind him and insulated him from the
world.
I couldn't do much but stand and watch Dampier as he bustled
about, tuning up his crazy-looking machine. He talked a blue streak
as he worked, but most of it went right over my head. I'm no Bill
Porter. I did begin to see why Nebel, if he was behind the world's
armaments racket as Dampier claimed, might be pretty anxious to
get hold of such a thing before the little Frenchman began peddling
it to his best customers. In the right hands it might make war very
unfashionable.
Imagine an invaded nation squatting down behind a perfectly
reflecting wall. They can't see out, but nothing can get in. Enemy
shells bounce off into the enemy lines. Death rays flash back into the
faces of those who sent them. Radio is garbled by all kinds of
curious echoes and reflections, making communication impossible.
Electrical and magnetic apparatus would be subject to strange
disturbances. And gravitation—how would it affect that? Would every
outside object be attracted to the mirror, or would it be repelled by a
kind of negative gravity, lifting it into space, to the moon, the
planets, to the very stars? I wish now that I'd known at least a
fraction of what Bill did, and had been able to read what he read in
these few sheets of neatly written paper. I can only guess, from
what Dampier said and from what I saw. What his zone really was—
what it could do—I do not know.
I tried to pay attention to what he was doing. The real vitals of his
apparatus were in the big insulated block. The thousands of
amperes he was drawing from the high-tension lines were merely
the kicker that kept the real engine turning. Atomic energy, Bill had
guessed. Probably he was right.
The loops and coils above the platform determined the shape that
the zone would take. According to how they were set, Dampier
explained, he could get any geometrically continuous form—a disc, a
paraboloid, anything that geometry can describe. What he was going
to make was a sphere.
I'm not at all sure that I'm getting the order of things right. I
gathered that the zone must be built up and strengthened little by
little; first impermeable to the simplest forms of energy, like light
and heat, and then to the more and more complex ones, until at
some critical point the whole thing became absolute. The machine
that created it had to be outside, otherwise the zone itself would
keep any power from getting through. On the other hand, it might
be powered by one of those super-batteries that Dampier had in the
grip of his solenoid-gun. With a set-up like that, you could dig a hole
and pull it in after you, so to speak. What I wondered was how you
get out?
I asked Dampier that one. "There would be no way," he told me.
"Once the zone is complete, it is unchangeable—absolute. You would
be inside, to us here, but I think that to yourself it would seem that
it is we who are inside—that you are in a world all of your own, with
its own laws, its own science. They can be worked out, these laws.
They are in the equations that Monsieur Porter is reading; but they
are very strange and complex. In war, a closed zone would be used
only as a trap for the enemy."
"Wait a minute," I objected. "You mean to say that once you've
made this thing you can't unmake it?"
"That is right," he nodded. "Once the zone is complete it is a bubble
—a nothingness—entirely apart from our Space and Time. The
forces build up very rapidly, exponentially, but until the very instant
of completion, even if it is one little billionth of a second before that
moment, the zone will collapse if the power which builds it is shut
off. Never in practice would one go so far. Long before it is complete,
such a zone will repel all things that can be directed against it, while
the balance of power still remains in the hands of him who has
created it. To make it—that is nothing. To destroy it is impossible.
But to hold it so in the delicate balance between destruction and
completion; that is the triumph of Pierre Dampier! I have calculated
it all from the equations. See—here at these red lines each needle
must stop. If they go beyond—zut! In the space of a thinking the
zone is complete! Beyond control!"
He straightened up, his wirey mop of hair bobbing at my shoulder.
"Now, please, if you will watch and remember. The loops are set, so,
for the sphere—little, like the apple of the eye. Now I press the first
switch, and the second and then the others, three, and four, and
five. Now I turn the dials, so, a little at a time. A minute now, while
the zone builds, and then you will call Monsieur Porter and show him
that this is not all sunshine and honeysuckers that he reads."
The big machine began to hum a deep-throated drone that
deepened and strengthened until I could feel it shaking the floor
under my feet with each colossal pulse of energy. I wondered about
the sympathetic vibrations you read about in the Sunday
supplements. Might it not shake the walls down around our ears?
But Dampier didn't seem worried. And then I forgot it, for a shadow
was beginning to form in the space between the coils.
That's all it was at first—a shadow, the size of a big red polished
apple. I could hardly be sure it was there, but there was something
queer about the way light acted that showed me where it was.
Things behind it disappeared, smothered out by something that
wasn't really darkness; and then suddenly it began to shine.
You've seen bubbles of air under water, shining like quicksilver. Well,
it was like that. It was flawless, without texture, intangible and
shimmering. It was not the thing itself we saw, but the things
reflected in it—a little, twisted, shining world swimming in the heart
of that ball of distorted space. Peering closer, I saw that the coils
which shaped it were glowing with an eerie, frosty white light. I
stared, fascinated, and by what? By a half-invisible bubble, like an
indoor baseball, conjured up by some legerdemain to make fools of
us! It was nonsense! I jerked my eyes away—and saw them.
Three men with guns stood on the little stair, watching us. They
were gentlemen, polished, clever gentlemen adroit at the art of
death. Their guns were of the kind which Middle-Europe gives to its
officers, and their faces were Middle-European faces. They were in
formal dress, and one of them held his gloves in his left hand.
Dampier had seen them before I, reflected in the shining sphere. He
turned, his back against the control-panel, his white teeth gnawing
like a rat's at his black beard. The madness was back in his glittering
eyes; madness of a trapped beast.
"So!" he whispered. "Now we shall meet."
They came down the stairs, one after the other. How they had cut
their way into that Gibraltar of a house I will never know. They may
have been working for days and weeks to break through Dampier's
defenses. But they were there.
Resistance was futile. Even Dampier realized that. The three guns
urged us back against the wall. Deft fingers searched us but found
nothing. The three men stepped back to the foot of the little stair,
their guns raised, like a firing squad waiting for the signal. And then,
above them, I saw the smiling face of Wilhelm Friedrich Nebel,
Ambassador from Middle-Europe.
I hadn't believed Dampier's story until then. It was fantastic, this spy
business, with a man like Nebel in the villain's role. Things like that
don't happen any more. Yet Wilhelm Nebel stood there with a smile
on his heavy lips and no smile at all in his pale little eyes. He came
down the stairs, treading silently like a cat. He was like a cat in his
black and white evening attire, white-bosomed and sleek. He had in
his slender fingers a thick golden chain, with a heavy seal of gold
made from an ancient coin. A crimson ribbon stretched across his
breast like a line of blood.
Satan at the sacrifice! And then the illusion broke.
Those devil fingers went into the pocket of his vest, brought out
thick, steel-rimmed spectacles, perched them precariously on the
thin-bridged nose. The massive shoulders slouched over, trousers
drew tight across his heavy buttocks as he bent and stared into the
shining globe. I had never thought of Nebel as fat or gross, in spite
of his size, but that single act showed him to me as a Teuton
peddler, stooping to finger the weave of some shoddy cloth, to
decide how high a price would be safe and how low a one profitable.
Satan from his throne! He stood erect again, but his massive face
was red with the effort.
Me he ignored. I was nobody. He bowed to Dampier and again I
heard the cloth of his breeches creak.
"We meet again, Monsieur."
Dampier answered nothing. He too had his fine tradition of
insolence. Nebel's slim hand flicked toward the machine. "This, I
presume, is the great weapon that is to be the salvation of la belle
France. This shining ball that floats in the empty air. Will you show
us what it can do?"
The Frenchman's eyes never left Nebel's suave face as he went to
the machine. His fingers darted here and there among the dials,
tugging and twisting. Above his head the coils stirred in their
massive bearings, and within their compass the silver sphere swelled
like an inflating balloon to the size of a man's head—of a basketball
—larger and larger while its shimmering surface took on a steely
hardness. We seemed to be staring into unfathomable depths, out of
which tiny distorted replicas of ourselves peered curiously. I had a
feeling that I was two men, one here in this buried room and the
other there in that twisted other room, staring inscrutably into my
own eyes.
"Stop!" Nebel's voice rapped in my ears. The sphere was huge—ten
feet and more in diameter. "It is large enough," he said. "What else
will it do?"
I saw Dampier's eyes then. I knew that this time there would be no
stopping him. Step by step I withdrew toward the wall. One of the
guards saw me and turned his pistol to cover me, but made no other
sign.
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