In a recent conversation about mathematics, one of us said, "Mathematics is not about what is true, or cannot be, but is a collection of valid chains of reasoning." And from there my mind wandered on to Clarence Wylie's sonnet (offered below) -- which is the final poem in a wide-ranging anthology that Sarah Glaz and I edited : Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics (A K Peters/CRC Press, 2008). Enjoy Wylie's play with thinking about the "holy order" of mathematics.
Paradox by Clarence R Wylie, Jr. (1911-1995)
Not truth, nor certainty. These I forswore
In my novitiate, as young men called
To holy orders must abjure the world.
Showing posts with label Jr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jr. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
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