Monday, December 5, 2011

Poetic Pascal Triangle

First published in 2007 in Mathematics Magazine, Caleb Emmons' poem "Dearest Blaise" has the form of (Blaise) Pascal's Triangle.  That original publication offered also a challenge:  what is the next line of Emmons' poem?   What is your guess?  

DEAREST BLAISE     by Caleb Emmons

                        1
                1            1
         1            he         1
      1       saw       the      1
     1      pure           simple           idea       1
   1    truly               distilling              arithmetic            later    1
1  poetic  mathematization   uncharacteristically  sentimentalized  Pascal  1

Emmons is a member of the mathematics department at Oregon's Pacific University; prior postings of his work in this blog include:  4 March 2011  and 6 May 2011.
 
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 27, 2011 at 12:38 PM

    A further line for Caleb Emmon's poem? Well, it's a stretch (literally), but:

    1
    applied
    semianachronistically necropyrogeohydrocheirocoscinomancy; hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia psychotherapeutically
    uncured
    1

    Which describes the application of somewhat outdated magickal techniques to deal with a fear of long words after modern methods failed.
    (Must have worked...)

    Robert Dawson
    Math and CS, S.M.U.
    Halifax, NS

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoAnne GrowneyDecember 27, 2011 at 1:50 PM

    Thanks, Robert Dawson!

    ReplyDelete