at the 2015 Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM)
Although last-minute decisions to participate are possible -- you may simply show up and sign up to read -- we invite and encourage poets to submit poetry (≤ 3 poems, ≤ 5 minutes) and a bio in advance, and, as a result, be listed on our printed program. Inquiries and submissions (by December 1, 2014) may be made to Gizem Karaali (gizem.karaali@pomona.edu).
San Antonio is a wonderful city for a January convention. I have been there for JMM twice, including January 1993 when it was announced that the billionth digit in the decimal expansion of π is 9. In 2013, calculation of π to more than 12 trillion digits was achieved. The following poem came from my time at the 1993 math meetings.
A Taste of Mathematics by JoAnne Growney
A mathematician left the convention
focused on 9, the digit that sits
in the billionth decimal place of pi,
ratio of circumference to width
of the yellow circle that parted the clouds
as she strolled down Commerce Street
to the Rio Rio Café for lunch and a beer.
On fire with jalapeños
she went shopping
for a souvenir.
She bought earrings —
red-red plastic peppers
with green stems.
She said, "Hot peppers
are like mathematics —
with strong flavor
that takes over
what they enter."
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