Math Ideas Expressed in Limericks

When you have time, a fascinating website to visit and browse is OEDILF  -- The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form.   

Here is a sample:    

      cuproid by Recumbentman (Limerick #89414)

            Tetrahedrons are bounded by four
            Triangular faces, no more.
            If on each one of those
            A pyramid rose,
            A cuproid would then take the floor.   

A LIMERICK defining "FACTOR"

      As a follow-up to my recent posting about OEDILF (Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form), I can't resist posting my limerick that appears on that site.  Years ago when I first learned of the dictionary I submitted several limerick-definitions but the only one that has survived is this definition of "factor":

This limerick is found here at the OEDILF site. 

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.     

OEDILF -- with definitions in limerick form

     Since 2004, OEDILF, the Oxford English Dictionary in Limerick Form has been assembling limerick definitions of English words.  I learned about this amazing project in the Washington Post -- in a weekly column by Pat Myers entitled "The Style Invitational".  Each year, Myers invites readers to submit limericks that define terms in a particular alphabetic range.  This year's contest requested limericks that define words beginning with gl- to go-.  Follow this link (and scroll) down to see some of the winners (announced this past weekend).
     Alas, none of the winning limericks involved math terms, and so I offer here one of my non-winning submissions.

When you have time, visit OEDILF -- browse its limerick offerings and consider contributing some of your own. And, if you like, add limericks here via your comments below.

Out of 100 -- in the Klondike Gold Rush

Adding to my recent post on 19 August I note that OEDILF is seeking submissions.   
Join the project:  submit limerick definitions of  (math)  terms for OEDILF consideration.

One of my favorite poets is the 1996 Nobelist Wislawa Szymborska (1923 - 2012, Poland); one of my favorites of her poems is "A Contribution to Statistics."  Szymborska's poem served as a model for a poem of mine shown below, about Gold Rush Days in Skagway, Alaska.  Written while I was poet-in-residence at Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, (in Skagway), this poem draws on historical data from the park's library to paint a bleak picture of wealth and survival in those gold-mad days.  

Counting in the Klondike     by JoAnne Growney
   
                        after Wisława Szymborska

Of 100 who left Seattle for Skagway in 1898
40 made it to the gold fields
8 found gold.    

OEDILF - the Limerick Dictionary

     At this site  Editor-in-Chief Chris Strolin is coordinating development of OEDILF: The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form.  So far, definitions are available (and being submitted) for terms beginning with letter-pairs Aa - Fd -- and completion of the dictionary is predicted at the OEDILF website for 2043.
     I have mentioned OEDILF before -- on 5 December 2012 and 29 March 2010. And today I offer a draft limerick about "factors" -- I am at this point, however, dissatisfied with my use of the plural rather than simply "factor."  More work needed.

That's so random! (NPR, OEDILF, etc.)

     One of the challenges I face in friendly conversations is not to overreact to a "misuse" of the word random.  When I hear someone use that word to describe events that are peculiar or haphazard my heart-rate rises in protest.  It is as if I am in math class where every term has one, quantifiable definition -- my use of random describes a situation when a variety of things may happen and all of them are equally likely.  Like when a fair coin is tossed, or a die.  Or when a lottery ticket is selected.
     Recently my attitude was aired nationally. Sort of.  On Friday, November 30, NPR's Evening Edition featured a discussion of random.  Written by commentator Neda Ulaby, "That's So Random:  The Evolution of an Odd Word" mentions the 1995 film "Clueless," a comedian (Spencer Thompson), the Hacker's Dictionary  -- and also includes comments from the Oxford English Dictionary's editor, Jesse Sheidlower. I am rethinking my stubborn position.

"Mathematical" Limericks

A dozen, a gross, and a score
Plus three times the square root of four
     Divided by seven
     Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more.