Mathy Limericks . . .

     One of the fun-to-visit poetry resources on the internet is the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form, a website resource that has for a goal the inclusion of at least one limerick for each meaning of each and every word in the English language.  Here is a link to an earlier mention of OEDILF in this blog and here, from the OEDILF site, are a pair of limericks about Calculus -- limericks that are currently awaiting dictionary approval.

          "Was it Newton or Leibniz?" I asked
          My professor. He smiled and then tasked
               Me to find more about
               My small calculus doubt.
          I researched and the truth was unmasked.     

          "It was Madhava, Prof!" I exclaimed.
          "He explained many theories famed
               And advanced much before
          Europeans of yore.
          In some circles his works are acclaimed."

Madhava, born in the 14th century, was an Indian mathematician and astronomer. He made great contributions to the study of infinite series and calculus at least two centuries before Newton and Leibniz published their works. Most of his original works are now lost and his contributions were identified by treatises from later day mathematicians belonging to the Kerala school of mathematics. Also, a noteworthy point is that all his works were in versified form.

The author of the above limericks is Giri and more Giri-limericks are available here.

And here is another fun limerick from this UK creative-science website  -- which is home to lots of limericks and poems.

          There was a young fellow from Trinity
          Who took √ ∞. (square root of infinity)
               But the number of digits
               Gave him the fidgits;
          He dropped Maths and took up Divinity.

Thanks to Montreal artist-poet math-guy Alex Ionut for connecting me with this rhyme!