Recently one of my friends used "all the grains of sand" as an example of an infinite set "because it is impossible to count them all" and -- even as I rejected his answer -- I wondered how many of my other friends might agree with it. In the following poem, mathematician Pedro Poitevin considers a similar question as he reflects on the countability of the birds in the night sky.
Divertimentum Ornithologicum by Pedro Poitevin
After Jorge Luis Borges's Argumentum Ornithologicum.
A synchrony of wings across the sky
is quavering its feathered beats of flight.
Their number is too high to count -- I try
Showing posts with label Pedro Poitevin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pedro Poitevin. Show all posts
Sunday, May 25, 2014
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