This was Mitchell’s first of many anonymous stories for the New York Sun, and although it contained a clever method of achieving unlimited speed, it had no time travel. But not to worry! Two of [Error: Missing ':]' tag for wikilink]
—Michael Main
Just whisper to him that when he has an infinite number of cars with an infinitesimal difference in their lengths, he will have obtained that infinite speed for which he seems to yearn.

Tags

(4)

Variants

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  1. “The Tachypomp: A Mathematical Demonstration” by Edward Page Mitchell [uncredited], New York Sun, January 1874..
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by D. W. Barefoot [uncredited]
  2. first byline appearance.
    “The Tachypomp: A Mathematical Demonstration” by Edward Page Mitchell, Schribner’s Monthly, March 1874.
    3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Edward Page Mitchell
  3. alternate title.
    “The Tachypomp” by Edward Page Mitchell, in Fantasia Mathematica, edited by Clifton Fadiman (Simon and Schuster, 1958).
    4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Edward Page Mitchell

Translations

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  1. Romanian.
    “Tahipompa: O demonstrație matematică” by Edward Page Mitchell, in Omul de cristal (Editura Univers, 1980).
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Edward Page Mitchell

Indexer Notes

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  1. Debut—Although Mitchell worked for the Sun in 1874, we are not yet certain whether citations of this story appearing there in January are correct.