This poem by Hanns Cibulka (1920 - 2004) -- translated from the German by Ewald Osers -- is collected in the anthology, Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics, edited by Sarah Glaz and me (A K Peters, 2008).
Mathematics by Hanns Cibulka (trans. Ewald Osers)
And the angel of numbers
is flying
from 1 to 2...
—Rafael Alberti
Showing posts with label Euclidean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Euclidean. Show all posts
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
An algorithm shapes a poem
Mathematics sometimes appears in poetry via patterns that follow the Fibonacci numbers. The pattern of Pascal's triangle also has been used. In her intriguing collection, Do the Math (Tupelo Press, 2008), poet Emily Galvin (now also a California attorney) uses these and more. Just as Euclid's Algorithm involves an interaction between two numbers, the following poem by Galvin applies the algorithm in a conversation between two voices.
Euclid's Algorithm by Emily Galvin
These ten scenes happen on the blank stage.
A and B could be any two people, so long as
they've been together for longer than either
can remember.
Labels:
algorithm,
divisor,
Emily Galvin,
Euclid,
Euclidean,
greatest common divisor,
mathematics,
poem,
poetry
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