The Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (JHM) offers delightful and broad-ranging connections between mathematics and the arts. An article that I discovered recently considers ways to use poetry in mathematics classes. Found in the July 2023 issue, "Teaching Mathematics with Poetry: Some Activities," by Alexis E. Langellier (an adjunct professor of Computer Science at Moraine Valley Community College and a graduate teaching assistant at graduate student in Mathematical Sciences at Northern Illinois University). Working toward a degree in Computer Science, Langellier has this intent: My goal is to get more women in STEM.
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Friday, December 8, 2023
A Must-Read Journal -- Humanistic Mathematics
One of the very special online resources for connections between mathematics and poetry (and also other art forms) is the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. Edited by California mathematicians Mark Huber of Claremont McKenna College and Gizem Karaali of Pomona College, this free-access journal has online issues published each six months -- available here.
Poetry of many different forms is available in JHM -- and a poem from the January, 2023 issue that I enjoyed rereading recently is "Mathematics" by Northwestern Math Professor Kim Regnier Jongerius -- a poem inspired by the song "Memories" from the musical Cats and describing some of the joys and frustrations inherent in doing mathematical work. I offer one of its stanzas below and I invite you to go here (to the JHM website) to read more.
from Mathematics by Kim Regnier Jongerius
Mathematics!
I must wait for an insight
Try to think of connections
That I haven't before.
When the day breaks with no solution coming to me
Then my courage sinks to the floor.
Enjoy all six stanzas of the poem here in JHM.
THANK YOU, Jongerius and JHM for sharing thought-provoking words.
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
A Nine-Sided Diamond
One of my much-appreciated math-poetry connections is with Scott W. Williams, a Professor of Mathematics at SUNY Buffalo and author of many scholarly papers and many poems. In a recent issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (JHM) I found (and valued reading) his "Impossible Haiku" -- a series of Haiku-stanzas that play with the Collatz Conjecture -- an unproven belief that for any starting number these two steps, performed in appropriate succession, eventually reach the number 1:
If the number is odd, multiply by 3 and add 1; if the number is even, divide it by 2.
Williams' "Impossible Haiku" may be found at this link. Another mathy poem by Williams (found here at his website) that I especially value is the one that I offer below -- a poem dedicated to his mother.
THE NINE-SIDED DIAMOND by Scott Williams
Friday, February 17, 2023
More Math-Poetry from JHM
Every six months a new issue of the open-access online publication, Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, becomes available. And -- among lots of other inclusions -- it offers a rich variety of mathy poems. Here is a link to the table of contents of the latest issue -- and I strongly suggest that you visit and explore. Math-poetry items, listed at the bottom of the TC, are shown in the screen-shot below:
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
"A Mother's Math is Never Done"
In just a few days (on May 8) we will celebrate Mother's Day 2022 in the US. And I am thinking back to the July 2018 issue the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- a special issue with the theme Mathematics and Motherhood. One of the poems presented in that issue is "A Mother's Math is Never Done," a sestina by JHM Editor, Gizem Karaali -- and I offer its initial stanza below, followed by a link to the complete poem.
A Mother's Math is Never Done by Gizem Karaali
Beyond dark clouds is the blue sky.
The day will come to do your math,
Once you put away the clutter.
Someday again you know you'll fly.
Now's not the journey's end, just a detour on the path.
Only today, hold your breath, for you are a mother.
Go here for the rest of this sestina. Enjoy especially the final stanza!!
The entire "Table of Contents" for Mathematics and Motherhood is available at this link.
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
New issue -- Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
The online, open-access Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (JHM) publishes new issues twice each year -- and the first issue for 2022 is now available and is rich with math-poetry offerings. One of the fun items is a folder of Fibs, featuring contributions (with email contact information) from:
Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya, Gerd Asta Bones, Robin Chapman,
Marian Christie, Marion Deutsche Cohen, Stephen Day,
Carol Dorf, Susan Gerofsky, Sarah Glaz,
David Greenslade, Emily Grosholz, JoAnne Growney,
Kate Jones, Gizem Karaali, Lisa Lajeunesse,
Cindy Lawrence, Larry Lesser, Alice Major,
Kaz Maslanka, Dan May, Bjoern Muetzel,
Mike Naylor, Doug Norton, Eveline Pye,
Jacob Richardson, S. Brackett Robertson,
Stephanie Strickland, Susana Sulic,
Connie Tettenborn, Racheli Yovel.
And the current JHM issue contains five more poems -- thoughtful and thought-provoking: "What's So Great About Non-Orientable Manifolds?" by Michael McCormick, "Wrong Way" by Joseph Chaney, "The Solipsist’s First Paper" by Sabrina Sixta, "Heuristic or Stochastic?" by E Laura Golberg, and "So Long My Friend" by Bryan McNair.
In closing, I offer here a sample from the folder of Fibs, this one written by Gizem Karaali, one of the editors of JHM.
Where does math come from?
If
You
Want to
Do some math,
Dive into the depths
Of your mind, climb heights of your soul.
Thank you, Gizem Karaali, for your work in humanizing mathematics!
Friday, August 13, 2021
JHM -- a rich source of mathy poems
Every six months the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics offers a new online issue and includes a generous offering of mathy poems. Here is a link to the current issue (Vol, 11, No, 2, July 2021) and I offer --after a sample, which features a type of algebra problem -- the titles, authors, and links to JHM mathy poems.
Train Algebra by Mary Soon Lee
Do not use a calculator. Show your work.
Haruki leaves Chicago Union Station at 10:42 pm
on a train traveling at 60 miles per hour.
At 10:33 pm, Haruki boards the train.
He’s abandoned his job,
his collection of cactuses;
has only his cell phone, his wallet,
and a dog-eared paperback.
He walks through two carriages
before finding an open seat,
apologizes as he sits down
beside a woman his mother’s age.
The woman glares at him.
Monday, February 8, 2021
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- new issue
Recently released, Issue 1 of Volume 11 (2021) of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics; in it Editors Mark Huber and Gizem Karaali have collected for us a wonderful selection of articles -- including a work of fiction, a folder of teaching limericks, and the following very fine (and mathy) poems:
"Early Morning Mathematics Classes" by Angelina Schenck
"Proof Theory" by Stan Raatz
"One Straight Line Addresses Another Traveling in the Same Direction
on an Infinite Plane" by Daniel W. Galef
"Turing's Machine" by Mike Curtis
"Iterations of Emptying" by Marian Christie
Go here to JHM Volume 11 to explore, to enjoy!
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Seeking wisdom in mathematical Haiku
During these difficult pre-election coronavirus days I have been turning to poetry, and especially favoring -- for their brevity -- Haiku. The January 2018 issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics offers a folder "Math in Seventeen Syllables: A Folder of Mathematical Haiku" -- with more than thirty poets sharing poetic insights using this ancient form. Here is one, by Laura Kline, that spoke to me today:
Peaceful living and
Nicely balanced equations
How we long for both
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Celebrate the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
Dear Arithmetic by Mary Soon Lee
Galileo's Verse by Bruce F. McGuffin
Hexagons by Barbara Quick
Changes and Deltas by Jim Wolper
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics--a TREASURE
This current issue of JHM also offers a selection of five poems and also a folder with insightful reflections in both prose and poetry -- "A Life of Equations Shifting to a Life of Words" by Thomas Willemain.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Linking mathematics to the rest . . .
Today my obtuse anger is rightly directed toward G. H. Hardy (1877-1947) and to the followers who have accepted his view -- in his 1940 treatise, A Mathematician's Apology -- that explaining and appreciating mathematics is work for second-rate minds. Despite his worthy achievements in number theory and analysis and his nurturing of Ramanujan, Hardy's words should not stand forth and belittle those who teach and explain and forge connections between mathematics and all the rest.
An wonderful and ongoing source of integration of mathematics with the arts is the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- and I invite you to go to the current issue and browse there OR go to this link for more than thirty pages of mathematical Haiku.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Mathematical images via Haiku
The recent issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics includes not only a variety of poems linked to mathematics -- it also has a special treat: a folder of Haiku -- 31 pages with contributions by 31 different writers. One of these contributors is Hannah Lewis and she has given me permission to share her work. Here are Hannah's Haiku:
But, Why?
x equals y, but—
why? dig deeper and all your
answers will unearth.
Monday, November 6, 2017
Mathematics -- vital imagery in SO MANY poems . . .
An important resource for anyone seeking poetry-with-mathematics is the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- an online journal in which each biannual issue contains a varied selection of poems. Here is a link to the July 2017 issue for you to explore.
The humanistic side of mathematics has been explored for many years by the online British journal plus -- available here. Perhaps you'd like to read an article on "the mathematics of kindness" or survey their articles, videos and podcasts about math-women or read a math-poetry book review -- all this and so much more at plus.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Julia . . . Set Aside Gender Roles . . .
For more about Julia Sets, visit http://www.karlsims.com/julia.html. |
Thursday, August 4, 2016
POETRY -- in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
The current issue (online since late July) features my review of Madhur Anand's vibrant new collection, A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes (Penguin Random House, 2015) and these poems:
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Arnold diffusion (and poets of Romania)
Recently I discovered the following poem by Florin in the January 2014 issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics and that online journal's open-access policy permits me to offer it here. I have wondered whether it is prudent of me to present a poem about Arnold diffusion, a topic about which I have scant mathematical background. But I like it, even though my understanding is incomplete; I hope you like it too.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Visit JHM for Mathy Poems
I am particularly intrigued by Greenwell's poem because the Prisoner's Dilemma is a decision model close to my concerns about the environment. (More comments below.)
Prisoner's Dilemma by Raymond N. Greenwell
Your best choice is my demise.
My wise choice is your defeat.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Poetry Reading 1-11-15 at JMM in San Antonio
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).
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Poetry in Math Journals
Articles:
Joining the mathematician's delirium to the poet's logic'': Mathematical Literature and Literary Mathematics by Rita Capezzi and Christine Kinsey
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways for Syllabic Variation in Certain Poetic Forms by Mike Pinter
Poems:
And here, from Gizem Karaali, is a poetic view of the process of mathematical discovery: the blank white page, the muddy flow of thoughts, the clarity that eventually (sometimes) blooms: