The Tristram Shandy paradox has its origins in an eighteenth century Lawrence Sterne novel in which the narrator, Tristram Shandy, is attempting to write his autobiography. However, it takes him one year to record the events of a single day of his life. Tristram laments that, at this rate, he will never finish. Bertrand Russell, the twentieth century philosopher, argued that if Tristram Shandy were immortal he would be able to finish his autobiography. Russell's assertion that Tristram would be able to complete this seemingly impossible task is the source of the Tristram Shandy paradox. It is also the source of debate among mathematicians, philosophers, and theologians.

There are two key components in the Tristram Shandy paradox—the number days that Tristram lives and the number of days required to write about those days. The sum of those two quantities yields the total...